Employers need a new approach to staff sickness in a post-Covid world

So, we’re moving towards “living with the virus”. Over the weekend, Dr Clive Dix, the former chair of the UK’s vaccine task force, called for a rethink of the UK’s Covid strategy and for the adoption of a “new normality”. In it, Covid would be treated like flu and other endemic viruses.

There were also reports circulating about the end of free testing and, while they were swiftly denied, that story has done the rounds before, with the Treasury’s fingerprints easy enough to see. The government, meanwhile, confirmed it is considering cutting the self-isolation period from seven to five days to ease pressure on the NHS and schools.

Tory backbenchers are clamouring for an end to even the limited plan B restrictions in England. There is much talk of finding “a way out” of this because the economy is also sickening again, having already been smashed in the face by the their beloved Brexit.

The problem with all this is that the virus will make its own decisions and it won’t pay any regard to the desires of politicians or economists or anyone else when it does. Omicron is better at transmission, but seems to be less good at killing people, and hooray for that. But Sigma, if/when it emerges, may have the capacity to mess everything up again.

Given all that, it seems prudent to start talking about what a “new normality” might mean because it can’t involve going back to “the way things were”. It requires some recognition that the virus is nasty, and is going to continue to require precautions like regular hand washing and, yes, masks in certain circumstances.

From the economy’s perspective, it also requires employers to take precautions, and maybe to rethink their approach and policies. I’m talking in particular about sickness.

Most of us will have, at some point, gone into work when we’ve been unwell, when we’ve been coughing and sniffling prior to the pandemic, even though doing so inevitably involves spreading nasty normal coronaviruses around the office.

This presentee-ism needs to stop because in a “new normal”, without free testing and masks and deep cleaning, that sniffle might be something bad enough to kill a vulnerable co-worker.

I fear that we’ve become disturbingly blasé about the number of people who have died as a result of Covid. The UK became the first European nation to record more than 150,000 deaths over the weekend. That figure refers to deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Only six other nations – the US, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru – have passed the same grim milestone.

However, there’s another measure in this country, which tallies how many times Covid was mentioned on death certificates. It puts our number at more than174,000.

Presentee-ism, going to work sick, has been dealt a blow by the adoption of hybrid or homeworking. Responsible employers can, and do, tell people to stay home if they have symptoms, and to work there if they’re up to it.

But the “bad old days” culture remains quite strong at some City banks, in warehouses, even in the public sector. A source of mine in the latter tells me of a policy whereby people are placed on sickness plans if they have too many days off. These include interviews with HR people and other types of pressure. Those in danger of being put on one of these plans can feel pressured to come in however ill they are.

To get a sense of how destructive these can be let me share with you an interview that was drawn to my attention that took place before the Covid-19 pandemic. HR Officer: “I’m sorry, I know your issue. But I have to ask this all the same. How do you plan to reduce the number of days you have off sick?”

Member of staff: “OK. How about this. I’ll try really really hard not to get cancer again.”

I’m aware that persistent absenteeism can be a problem for employers. There are inevitably people who “try it on” if they, say, fancy a day under the duvet, which these policies are supposed to address. But the above shows they have been wielded in a nonsensical and damaging way. Potentially, in a Covid world, a dangerous way too.

That’s before we get to the other big sickness at work problem, which the TUC has been banging the drum about since the pandemic started: at less than £100 per week, statutory sick pay is too low, and 2 million people don’t qualify for it anyway.

Too many Britons have repeatedly been caught in the middle of impossible dilemmas over the past couple of years, asked to choose between threadbare personal finances and the risk of exposing their co-workers to a deadly virus. That shouldn’t be a choice they have to make.

There are currently too many carrots, and sticks, incentivising people to turn up to work sick. It needs to be addressed as part of a “new normal” because if it isn’t we run the risk of a regular return to the thoroughly nasty normal we’ve been stuck in for the past two years.