Self-care is knowing when you and your colleagues should take a break

Recent news reports indicate that rates of illness in the community are rising, as they often do during the winter months. We instinctively cringe away from people coughing on the bus, shuffle away from sniffly noses at the airport, and avoid touching public handrails where possible. Fortunately, living through a pandemic taught us a thing or two about preventing infection – like masking up, washing hands, keeping our distance in crowds, and staying home when we are not well. There’s one thing it didn’t teach everyone, though: the power of rest for recovery.

Data from Southern Cross suggests that we are more likely to work from home now, rather than take a sick day. Our own research report, published earlier this year, found that the vast majority of us (more than 90%) have worked while unwell in the past month (also known as “presenteeism”). This is at odds with the evidence that using sick leave when we’re unwell is the best thing we can do to prevent long-term health consequences. Why? Because time away from work takes our body out of an activated “stress” state and encourages deep rest and faster recovery.

Let’s look at some of the common barriers to taking a break from work when we are unwell. 

I’m too busy. Workload is one of the strongest predictors of showing up to work while physically unwell, along with financial stress.

I don’t want the work to fall onto someone else. Many of us are more comfortable with sacrificing our own comfort, rather than inconveniencing those around us.

I don’t feel comfortable taking sick leave in my organisation. We know from research that people with low levels of autonomy are more likely to work through sickness. In other words, when our work culture doesn’t support us to work flexibly and rearrange our workdays to adjust to illness, we are more likely to push through. Toxic working cultures can also be a factor here, punishing workers who use their legitimate sick leave entitlements.

Now let’s look at some of the things that help.

Re-defining self-care as a selfless act. Research shows that people like helping other people, and it makes people happier, too. Create a culture in your team where you show up for each other, call each other out when you need to take time off, and selflessly accept help from others when you need it.

Role modelling break-taking. If you’re a leader, or a person with influence, be very aware of the norms you are setting when you work through a sickness or work long hours during a busy period. The behaviour you display as a leader is the behaviour you’re going to see in your team, especially when it comes to taking sick leave.

Set up habits that are hard to refuse. Canvassing across dozens of research studies all over the world, good habits were found to be the number one predictor of personal behaviour change. When it comes to taking sick leave, or other breaks, this means setting up patterns that you will stick to even when work gets busy or taking a break doesn’t feel convenient. For example, set yourself and your team a challenge to never eat lunch at your desk. Or make it a habit to completely switch off your work devices as soon as the workday is over. Habits like these encourage better health day-to-day, making us less likely to get sick in the first place, and help make it easier to detach from work when we need to.

Next time you notice yourself working through sickness, ask yourself: if a close friend or colleague was feeling this way, would I encourage them to take the day off? Is my work worth the risk of harming my health? And, if you lead a team or a business, ask yourself, is a chronically sick, underperforming workforce worth the expense of a few sick days?