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Getting Sick - A Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't Situation



One of the reasons why workers lose productivity is through getting sick. Most companies have sick leave allotments, but others, due to cost cutting measures, have reduced health benefits such as sick leave. Still others penalize their workers for getting sick by subtracting from their salaries. That is why the worker's dilemma is whether to still go to work or to stay home and try to recuperate.

The thing is, this is a situation where it's "damned if you do, damned if you don't." If you go to work sick, you'll still get your full pay, but you risk worsening your condition, as well as infecting your peers. Worse, you could be physically present but actually "absent," productivity-wise.

On the other hand, you may choose to stay home and nurse yourself back to wellness, but at the cost of a missed day, workload that keeps piling up, not to mention the day's wage.

Seems like you don't win either way, right?

I personally prefer to just stay home and recuperate, even at the cost of work piling up on my desk and a day's worth of wage being lost. But there is a better way: Prevention.

Prevention is better than cure, as they say. Indeed. Because as you can see, getting sick is a situation that's disadvantageous both to you and your company. So, in order to keep from getting sick, here are our tips:

1. Allot time for you to rest. We may want to get all the jobs we can possibly squeeze into 16 to 18 hours of waking time, or even eat into the time we should set aside for sleeping, but if we avoid resting like the plague, we'll pay for it in terms of a major crash anyway. So, don't work beyond 12 hours of your existence. If you can keep it to a strict 9 hours, including navigating traffic, better.
2. Take vitamin supplements and have a healthy diet. A good majority of people may have the steady stock of vitamins in their medicine cabinets. However, a good number of people also neglect their vitamins in order to keep their budgets lean. Scrimping on the vitamins is a bad move, as getting sick would cost you more in the long run.

3. Make sure you REST during the weekends. Sure, it's tempting to party the weekend away, but then the alcohol and the late-night hedonism will take its toll on your body. Party if you must, but try to keep it down to around 1 to 2 times a month. You could also try partying on a Saturday but giving yourself mandatory rest on Sunday.


Keeping sickness away from your life is not brain surgery. It only takes a good amount of vigilance and giving yourself the love and care that you need.

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