I worked this fall at the American Academy in Berlin, which though host to American scholars and public policy figures, is predominantly staffed by Germans and run by German workplace rules. One of the things most interesting to me was the policy and practice with respect to sick leave. At least in my experience at law firms back home, when you are a little sick, such as with a head cold, you are expected to show up to work, take some Advil or Sudafed, and plow through the day. If you are really sick, then you are expected to work from home. If you are really, really sick, then you stay home and don’t work, but you come back as soon as you can.
Here, the culture is quite different. First of all, you are not expected to report to work at all if you are sick. That means even a cold–it seems to be considered rude, in fact, to come to work with the sniffles. Second, if you are home sick, you are not expected to work. I once heard a co-worker inquiring whether another co-worker, who had called in sick, was working at home. In the U.S. the purpose of the question would be to make sure she was doing so. Here, the tone of the question was, “What, is she crazy?” In fact, after expressing disapproval that she was working at home despite being sick, the other co-worker said, “Well, I’m not her mother. She should know how to take care of herself by her age.”
Third, people call in sick in advance for a week at a time. This really threw me for a loop the first few times I saw it. Someone would send an email around on a Monday saying, for example, “I am sick with a cold and will be out of the office until at least Friday.” I saw variations on this email throughout the fall–people predicting well in advance how long they would be out sick! Later I learned that you actually bring in a note from your doctor indicating how long you were advised or instructed to stay home from work–although the exact nature of your sickness is not described on the note.
While a bit strange and heavily bureaucratic, this system also seems more humane and to show more respect for the really important things in life–above all, health and well-being. I’ve started taking it to heart, too. Last week someone showed up at volleyball with a heavy cold and I thought, how bad for your health, and for the health of others! Stay at home and get better if you’re sick!
