December 20, 2005
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Articles
Sick and Vulnerable, Workers Fear for Health and Their Jobs
"When Marty Domitrovich was first told that he had cancer, he was a 51-year-old sales executive, so successful that he had two goals: to reach $1 million in commissions and bonuses and to become chief executive of his company, where he had worked since his summers in college…When Shannon Abert was first told she had scleroderma, she was 35, and loved her job teaching high school algebra. Until her illness was diagnosed, she was healthy and active, never taking a sick day from work, not even bothering to find a doctor who accepted her school district's insurance plan… Both Mr. Domitrovich, now 58, and Ms. Abert, now 38, wanted to keep working after their conditions were diagnosed, and both asked their employers for help. One was told, ‘We'll give you whatever you need.’ The other recalls facing much more ambivalence, with one administrator telling her, ‘We all have problems, just do the job.’ In this way, their stories reflect the realities of being ill in today's workplace, at a time when sick workers have more legal safeguards than ever before, and yet also face gaps, inconsistencies and question marks in those laws.”
Two for the Job
"Martha Mensch works three days a week as the director of strategic development in the finance department at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. And so does Andrea Pesta. After years of struggling with trying to be mother and executive, hoping to hang on to a career in finance while also trying to hang on to sanity, Mensch and Pesta heard a suggestion from their boss that it was time for them to put their heads and lives together and share one job at the firm. At that time, it was an idea that had never been tried before at Booz, particularly at such a high level of the company.”
Sick and Tired at Work
"There's one in every office, factory or school: The colleague who slumps in the neighboring cubicle hacking and sniffling and wheezing, a mound of tissues rising like a viral mountain range. Go home, already, you think to yourself. Instead, your colleague slogs through the day as the fog of flu or a cold rolls in, enveloping the workplace. There's even a name now for the phenomenon: presenteeism. It's when people who should be absent from work or school -- because they're contagious or feeling so lousy they can't do their jobs -- aren't.”