Jeremy Lesniak owns a small Web design firm in Randolph, Vt. He has 10 employees and hundreds of clients. Sick isn’t an option.
“I have two cell phones and a pager” he said. “I have taken partial sick days or just worked from home, but I haven’t had a real one in over six years.”
The swine flu epidemic had employers desperately trying to keep sick workers at bay, calling into question companies that didn’t. But the economic meltdown has stepped up pressure on worker bees and bosses alike to produce from home rather than heal in bed, said Dave Couper, a career coach and corporate human resources consultant in Los Angeles.
“There’s an implicit requirement to be at work — partly because of the fear of losing your job if you’re not there,” he said. “Before, companies were OK about people being out sick. Now I don’t see that as much. I’ve known people who have e-mailed from their hospital room or been on conference calls where they can hardly speak they’re so sick. The recession has made it worse.”
The self-employed — those with access to technology and connectivity anyway — and employees in small companies with fewer prospective subs really feel the squeeze with the sneeze.
Ashleigh Harris gives her San Francisco startup, which makes a new type of training wheel for kid bicycles, high marks for flex time. But with only three full-time positions, herself and the CEO included, calling in sick means work languishes.
“Things need to get done when they need to get done when it comes to building a successful startup,” said Harris, the marketing director. “So if that means hopping on a conference call from my cell when I’m in bed, or sending a few key e-mails to hit deadlines, I’m more than happy to do it.”
Some workers…