𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
I was about 23 or 24.
It wasn’t a serious crash — thank God — but serious enough that my neck hurt and my nerves were shot.
Still, I got up.
Got dressed.
And went to work.
Because that’s what we were raised to do.
Unless it was catastrophic — you showed up.
I’ll never forget what happened next.
My line manager looked at me and said:
“You need to go home. You’ve been in a car accident.”
I said no.
They said,
“You’re not staying.”
And I’ll forever respect them for that.
Back then, calling in sick wasn’t even a thought unless your body 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲.
We normalised “pushing through” —
To the point that even a crash didn’t feel like enough of a reason to rest.
But here’s the shift I’ve seen in today’s workforce:
People are calling in sick for things we didn’t even used to talk about;
↳ Burnout.
↳ Anxiety.
↳ Overstimulation.
↳ Mental fatigue.
And it’s easy to look at that and say:
↳ “They’re soft.”
↳ “They’re not built like we were.”
↳ “They’ll never survive in the real world.”
But the reality is:
It’s not always the employee.
𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱.
If employees feel they have to lie about being sick…
Or exaggerate their reasons for absence just to be taken seriously…
Something is broken.
People aren’t always faking being sick.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹.
𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀.
So no one feels like they have to hide behind excuses.
And no one feels like they have to turn up the day after a car crash.
That’s where we come in.
We work directly with employers to deal with real people problems — not just policy.
Sickness, burnout, absence, performance — all of it.
We’re strategic, hands-on, and human.
It’s an all-inclusive HR department — 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗲.
Don't be anything less than human when dealing with humans.
Founder of HR Habitat, award winner of "Best HR & Employment Law Consultancy, 2024" title. As featured in BBC Oline, BBC Asian Network Radio, Telegraph & more.
