第1542期:When should I have a sick day?

Have you ever woken up with a sore throat and blocked nose and wondered if you should take the day off work? Some of us just soldier on, hoping the office environment and banter with work colleagues will perk us up. Others will make a hot drink, return to bed and have a ‘duvet day’. But what is the right approach to take?

您是否曾经因喉咙痛和鼻塞而醒来，想知道您是否应该请假一天？我们中的一些人只是坚持下去，希望办公环境和与同事的玩笑能让我们振作起来。其他人会做一杯热饮，回到床上，度过一个“羽绒被日”。但正确的做法是什么？

People’s attitude to illness and when to take time off work varies. Reasons for having a sick day range from a light sniffle to feeling at death’s door. And when you have no genuine excuse but just can’t face going into work, it might be time to take a sickie. A survey of British workers by YouGov found 15% of workers who admitted making up an illness to get a day off used a migraine as their excuse. But what about a common cold – is having one a genuine enough reason for missing work?

人们对疾病的态度以及何时请假各不相同。生病的原因从轻微的抽吸到死亡的大门。当你没有真正的借口但又无法面对工作时，可能是时候请病假了。YouGov 对英国工人的一项调查发现，15% 的工人承认为了请假而假装生病，以偏头痛为借口。但是普通感冒怎么办？有一个足够真实的理由来缺勤吗？

This is something Ian Shoesmith explored for the BBC. He looked into “the murky moral maze” that brought together employment law, ethics and public health. He spoke to Rachel Suff, senior policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, who said "If you are really not well and your symptoms mean you are not going to be productive, it's better to go off sick. You're also not spreading your germs around the workplace." But Ian also found that catching a cold from someone could help build up your immune system and be good for long-term health. However it can depend on what type of cold it is.

这是 Ian Shoesmith 为 BBC 探索的内容。他研究了将就业法、道德和公共卫生结合在一起的“阴暗的道德迷宫”。他与英国特许人事与发展协会的高级政策顾问雷切尔·萨夫（Rachel Suff）进行了交谈，后者说：“如果你真的身体不好，并且你的症状意味着你不会有生产力，那么最好请病假。你也是不要在工作场所周围传播你的细菌。”但伊恩还发现，从某人那里感冒可以帮助增强您的免疫系统，并有利于长期健康。但是，这可能取决于它是什么类型的感冒。

Of course, deciding whether to take time off to recuperate from a cold may depend on where you work. Hayley Johnson, an employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, told the BBC that sometimes members of staff feel obliged to work when they are sick "because they fear the mountain of work will just keep piling up" for when they return. But if an employee is feeling under the weather but well enough to work, a solution could be to work from home.

当然，决定是否请假从感冒中恢复可能取决于您在哪里工作。Slater and Gordon 的就业律师海莉·约翰逊告诉 BBC，有时员工生病时会觉得有必要工作，“因为他们担心当他们返回时，工作量会不断堆积”。但是，如果员工感觉不适但可以工作，解决方案可能是在家工作。

As a cure for a common cold is still a long way off, having this lurgy as an excuse for a day off work is not to be sneezed at!

由于普通感冒的治愈还有很长的路要走，所以以这种 lurgy 为借口请假一天是不容小觑的！

词汇表

a sore throat 嗓子疼
blocked nose 鼻塞
soldier on 坚持干活
perk somebody up 使某人精神振作
duvet day 休假日
sniffle 流鼻涕，吸鼻子
at death’s door 病入膏肓
sickie 假病假，称病缺勤
migraine 偏头疼
common cold 感冒
public health 公共卫生
symptom 症状
germ 病菌
catch a cold 患感冒
immune system 免疫系统
recuperate 恢复，康复
under the weather 生病
cure 治疗方法
lurgy 小病
not to be sneezed at 不可轻视的