Working from home is wonderful for many reasons. Today, I an extra thankful to be working from home for one particular reason. A few days ago, my husband came down with a very bad cold. He was sick on his day off, and he had to miss two days of work after that. Fortunately, our boys do not seem to have suffered any ill effects. I, however, am slightly indisposed.
Even though I am not feeling great, I seem to have a much lighter version of the cold that my husband had. Mostly, I am tired, and I find that things take more effort than they usually do. My nose is a little runny, and I have a bit of a cough.
If I were employed outside of the home, I would be faced with a dilemma. I am certainly well enough to do my work, yet it is possible that if I were in a workplace environment, I could share my cold with my co – workers. No one wants to miss work if they can help it, especially if their job does not provide paid sick days. I might want to work because I need the money, yet the health of my co – workers should also play a role in deciding whether or not to go to work.
Since I work from home, there is no dilemma. The biggest issue that I face is deciding when I should go to bed. I’ll keep my germs to myself, but I will get my work done. Since my work is not physical, I could even get my work done if I were feeling quite a bit worse. That means that even if I were sick enough to definitely need to stay home, my work could still get done.
Other positives about working from home when you or someone in your family is sick include being comfortable. I am dressed comfortably, and everything that I might need is close at hand. If my kids get sick, I will not have to miss work to care for them. In fact, if the boys had a sick day, I would probably get additional work done even while tending to everything that they needed because they would be sleeping or resting more than usual.
When you or a loved one is feeling under the weather, nothing beats the comfort, safety, and convenience of working from home.
Photo by jdurham on morguefile.com.