By Kel Gratke
Kel Gratke is a Gen Xer.
Last week when I wasn’t feeling well at work, the message was loud and clear: “Go home! Go to the doctor!”
As sympathetic as my coworkers tried to be, I was quick to pick up on the fact that no one wanted to get infected—especially with flu season and the cloud of H1N1 hanging over our heads. As I drove home, I contemplated how each of the generations reacts when the sickness bug overcomes them.
The Baby Boomers have always been told that putting in the most and longest hours means you’re a strong employee. Add in their competitive drive, and it can be downright impossible to feel comfortable taking a day off. A day away from the office meant 80 million others could catch up or worse—pass you up!
It’s no wonder that Boomers were not driven to stay home and heal; it was more a competition to see who could accrue the most sick days! The problem isn’t whether or not companies have made it easier for Boomers to take time off—it’s that Boomers still feel that it would be a sign of weakness. Surveys show that Boomers will still go to work sick if they feel they have too much to do or would fall under the “wimp” category.
Compare that to Gen Xers, who vowed to never pay the same price for success as previous generations. Accruing sick days is not a badge of honor. Getting Xers to admit they’re sick and need the time off is not a problem. The challenge with Xers is that their lifestage makes every one of those sick days more valuable than any immunization.
Knowing when to cash in sick days or to just go to work ill is the million dollar question. Since they are not empty nesters, Xers know that when they are infected with the flu bug, there is a good chance that other birds in the nest will get sick, too. That means that regardless of how quick the Xer heals, it is likely they will need more time away to take care of the kids who couldn’t go to school or to pitch in while their partner/spouse is down for the count.
What about Millennials and sick days? For 15 percent of Millennials who are living with Mom and Dad, it can be a trip down memory lane with homemade chicken noodle soup, plenty of TLC, and reruns on TV. But even for those who have left the nest, sick days don’t seem to be that big of a deal.
The majority of Millennials don’t have kids to worry about infecting and later caring for—and unlike Boomers, they aren’t worried that a day at home means they’ve gone off the grid. Millennials have never been defined by space and pace—so being at home and resting isn’t that hard to embrace because they can still be online and feeling as much in the loop as ever.
So with generational differences like these, how best can you manage flu season?
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