As a mother to two daycare-attending little girls, working from home has saved my family more times than I can count.

In the midst of winter this year, we had one of those months where we seemed to pass a bug around the family on a disgusting loop for weeks on end. While I do want to teach my daughters the importance of sharing, this was not exactly what I had in mind. Around the third week of having one or both of the kids home sick, I remember wondering aloud to my partner what on earth we would have done had I had an office to attend. Called in sick for a month? What did people do before remote working?

Thankfully, WFH meant that wasn’t necessary. One of the benefits of working for a women’s career network is the implicit understanding that flexibility is essential, and the ability to get the job done around the demands of having a family. Of course, it’s not always (or ever, really) easy. But it’s been the key factor that’s enabled me to stay in the workforce, instead of being forced to tap out. And it’s something I’ll never take for granted.

But last week I found myself bed-ridden for the first time in a long time. In too much pain to sleep, and unable to even sit upright at my desk, I did something I haven’t done all year (and it’s November!) – I called in sick.

Even as I dashed out an email to let my boss know, I questioned myself. After all, I’d be home all day. The kids were both in care. My laptop was right next to me. It seemed like a waste to take a whole day of leave when I could work not just from home, but from bed, if I wanted to.

 This is a bit of a toxic mindset. But it’s a common one. Dan Schawbel of Workplace Intelligence says that “prior to remote work, a sick day meant not coming into the office and not working at all. Now, for remote employees, it's a day at home, but potentially working.” Part of this is due to fear – “they don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of the work-from-home benefit”, Schawbel says. And part of it is due to a shift in the way we perceive illness, 18 months into a global pandemic. “The pandemic has fundamentally changed how we define what it means to be sick. One study found that nearly half of employees believe that COVID-19 has made other illnesses look ‘minor’, and 66% of those working remotely believe that taking sick days for anything less severe than COVID-19 would be looked down upon by their employer”, explains Schawbel.

Last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that after a predictable surge of sick leave days taken during the first wave of the pandemic, there has since been a major drop in the numbers. There are several reasons for this, “including the fact that people working from home may be less inclined to take sick leave”, the ABC reports.

But we can’t blame it all on Covid. With remote working trending upward even pre-pandemic, this is a phenomenon that’s been on the rise for some years now. However, the Society for Human Resource Management warns against the WFH-sick day. "If an employee is really sick, he or she might power through and get a few things done but might not do them well," said Ellen Galinsky, a senior research advisor for SHRM.

And Jeanne Meister, founding partner of New York City-based HR executive network and research firm Future Workplace, agrees. “Remote workers find it hard to integrate work with the rest of their life because it is so easy to overwork and even plow through your work while you are sick." Working while sick, even from home, can end up costing you in further illness, and "also can present mental health challenges," Meister said.

Point taken. As for me, at the urging of my boss, I spent a much-needed day in bed. The sky did not fall in, my inbox did not self-combust, and I bounced back to good health, probably faster than I would have if I’d tried to work through my sickness. As it turns out, there’s no prize for simply showing up – even online. And thank goodness for that.