The Anti 9-to-5 Guide » Ask the cubicle expat: How do you handle sick days?

Ask the cubicle expat: How do you handle sick days?

February 19th, 2007

Charlene writes: “I’m a freelance writer (two years in) and have a steady client base. But for the first time since I became a freelancer, I’ve gotten hit with a nasty flu and can barely function. But feel compelled to because freelancer = work for $$. Missed hours = missed $$. How do you handle that?”

Ah, yes, the dreaded sick. There is no Easy button for this one, given that no one pays for your sick days when you freelance. Unless I’m in the ER (knock particle board), I usually work a third or half day when I’m fluish so that I don’t fall too far behind. Then I sleep a lot and catch up on my reading or soap opera viewing. If you don’t take the time to heal up, you risk staying sick longer and missing out on even more work days and dollars. (Been there and it’s not pretty.) Better to work a few extra hours to make up the cash once you’re healthy again than push yourself when you’re illing.

Disability insurance can help protect you against weeks of lost wages should you get seriously ill or injured. I confess to never having bought myself a policy, but since I’m a one-income household and haven’t been called a spring chicken in a while, I recently put this one on my to-do list.

There’s also the pesky matter of making your deadlines when you’re sick (but not hospital-sick, which essentially nixes any chance you have of making that deadline on Monday). Freelancers do ask their clients for extensions from time to time. Sometimes it’s no trouble for the client to give you a couple extra days; sometimes there’s no leeway in the schedule and you have to rally (or give up the work). If you hire out subcontractors (your own freelance underlings), giving up the work doesn’t hurt so much because you still get a cut of the cash — but that’s a topic for another day.

I’d love to hear how others deal with the dreaded sick as a solo worker, too, so feel free to chime in. And I will say this: One good thing about not working in someone else’s office every day is that you don’t get sick as much as your cube monkey friends do.

If you have a question you want the Cubicle Expat to answer, send it my way. Let me know if you want me to use your name and link to your site.

Entry Filed under: Ask the Cubicle Expat, This freelance life

6 Comments Add your own

1. Elizabeth | February 19th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

I’ve been self-employed as a writer for five years and have found that strong client relationships with frequent, regular communication create the leeway for taking sick days when absolutely needed. By keeping in touch and building a foundation of trust, freelancers can establish client relationships that can accommodate occasional deadline extensions for valid reasons.
2. Michelle Goodman | February 19th, 2007 at 6:50 pm

yes, yes, yes, i agree 100%, elizabeth! and by staying on top of deadlines and perhaps even — novel concept alert — AHEAD of them, you strengthen your case for sick days off that much more.
3. Lauren | February 20th, 2007 at 5:40 pm

Yep, agreed with Elizabeth. And on the subject of disability insurance, that was really high on my list of, oh, let’s call them “Phase 2 startup costs”, i.e. not the list of must-have-or-die items, but the next tier up. I figured if my livelihood was dependent on my ability to operate a computer, I’d better be insured against repetitive strain disorders that could knock me (and my bank account) flat. It’s pricy, but I sleep so much better at night.

Another option that was proposed to me at the time I started looking into disability insurance, was to just put money away into a rainy-day fund, and consider that your disability insurance. However, I find that a) savings accounts are kinda tempting to dip into, and b) it takes a while to build up a really substantial amount of cash, whereas with insurance you might be gobbling up several months’ salary at one go.
4. Michelle Goodman | February 20th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

i’m all about the rainy day cash stash. i have several months’ expenses on hand, which lets me sleep oh so much better… it’s a relief to know that my hand-to-mouth days are (hopefully) firmly lodged in my past.

oh, and if you put the emergency fund in a money market instead of the savings account that’s tied to your checking account, it’s slightly harder to dip into.
5. The Anti 9-to-5 Guide &ra&hellip | February 27th, 2007 at 7:40 am

[...] Last week Charlene asked how freelancers deal with sick days. (Answer here.) If you think self-employed people are the only working stiffs who have it rough when they’re sick, you probably didn’t see the ABC news report on Friday about how 59 million U.S. workers have no paid sick days and 86 million get no paid days off to care for a sick kid. A juicy nugget from the piece: [...]
6. charlene | February 27th, 2007 at 9:44 pm

thanks everyone for the helpful responses!

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