Good enough.

Let’s start off on the right foot

“We carry the flame for all to see, the fire and passion of what we can be.” –Meat Loaf

The skinny

Employees are using fewer sick days, which may not be a good thing for long-term productivity gains and overall company culture.

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Wait…taking fewer sick days is bad?

When you dive deeper, it can be a canary in the coal mine for something worse.

What?

Our favorite B word. Burnout.

How ya figure?

Well, many remote-first employees are feeling pressure to work while sick.

Well, at least they’re at home.

Sure. But as taboo as it’s become to go anywhere while sick, Americans are notoriously bad at taking sick days. 90% of workers in a 2019 survey said they came to work with cold or flu symptoms.

Cringey.

You think that now. But raise your hand if you ever went to work when you didn’t feel 100% in the “before times?”

Guilty.

Exactly. It’s interesting to note that people who are WWS (working while sick) now have different reasons than those from 2019.

What’s their reason?

Well, this time around, a third said they are afraid to lose their jobs and that taking a sick day would anger their manager. Plus, they are afraid to take sick days if they have a common cold or stomach bug b/c they want to save those days for something more serious, like COVID-19.

Yikes.

And something else to consider: Employees are way more in tune with how they feel and aren’t scared to look for other opportunities if they feel their employer doesn’t care about their health.

And just like that…

Your employee walks out the door. An employer’s sick-leave policy—or lack thereof—plays a part in establishing how they value employee health. No sick-leave policy, or one that is “lumped” in with PTO, might not be the “We care about your health” flag you need to be flying.

Totes quotes: “People have good reason to fear that something more catastrophic might come along and they’ll need the sick days later.” – Adam Calli, Founder at Arc Human Capital

Date with data: Stress levels increased 5% through the pandemic.

Further reading: Work Happiness 2021 Report: The Rise of Worker Expectations.

The skinny

Satisfice is not just a consumer behavioral concept, but can actually help boost productivity, especially if you're a perfectionist.

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Satis-what?

It means good enough. Not perfect, but does the job.

But I want to be perfect.

Being perfect is slowing you down, bud. Picking a few tasks in your day and just doing the minimum might be better for productivity.

This isn’t making sense.

Ok, here’s an example. Email. Do you spend hours “clearing out” our inbox and answering every single email with a well-thought-out response?

That’s my morning routine.

I bet it takes forever, right? I challenge you to try the 30-minute power email play. Set a timer for 30 minutes and see how many emails you can answer in that time. You’ll likely find that very few emails require more than a 3-minute response.

How rude.

It’s not! I double dog dare you to try it and see how much time you have freed up for bigger projects.

Three cheers for good enough?

I know you’re going to need to practice that one. But good enough is better than not at all. Waiting for the perfect time to start a new hobby could stop you from even starting.

Need more tips.

First, recognize that you may not be able to spend the ideal amount of time or resources on something. But remember, something is better than nothing. Progress on a project is better than nothing at all. You’d be surprised by how much you can accomplish with slow, but consistent progress.

Further listening: Are you a Maximizer or a Satisficer?

Totes quotes: “I no longer have to say that I’m a bad housekeeper. Instead, I can just explain that when it comes to housekeeping, I choose to satisfice!” –Brianna Conrey, writer and education nonprofit leader.

For you: Try making a done list.