The alarm clock reads 3:30 am. You hear coughing and then crying in the other room. You get out the thermometer and sure enough, your daughter has a fever.

You panic because you have NO SICK DAYS left at work.

It’s a familiar scenario to many of us. Maybe you can take a personal day or a vacation day? Can your husband stay home with the kids? Your brain immediately goes into stressed-out juggling mode.

What we would all like to do, ideally, is to keep the children at home, or take them to the doctor, and rest. But not everyone has this luxury. Instead, we may send them on to school, go to work, and hope for the best.

For many people, the decision to take a a day off work for illness or to care for a family member is incredibly complicated and stressful. According to a new study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “more than 44 million American workers do not have access to paid sick days, and more are unable to use time off to take care of sick children or other family members.”

The study goes on to say that the cost of untreated illness and delayed medical care is significant.

Access to paid sick days could save $1 billion in medical costs annually … This includes $500 million in taxpayer-funded public health care programs for children, elders, and low-income Americans.

Wow! On the surface, they have a good case for creating policy for universal access to paid sick days. We agree that it’s common sense to stay home from work when you’re truly ill. However, we would argue that more “paid time off” is not the solution. We would go a lot farther than that.

More studies are confirming that what people really need is not sanctioned time off, or a flexible schedule (oxymoron), or a 4-day work week. Keeping track of time like this creates its own set of problems.

What is the minimum number of sick days to dole out? How does the boss really know his employee is sick, or just playing hooky? What happens when you run out of sick days?  These are the kinds of silly questions that inevitably arise when we focus on time, instead of results.

What employees need (and are increasingly demanding) is complete control over their time, so they can decide how to best manage every aspect of their lives, including work. This scenario is possible when workers are measured on the results they produce, not the amount of time spent at a desk.

So, we save a lot in health care costs by giving workers control over their time. At the same time, we can see increases in health and wellness.

The University of Minnesota recently released a study of 608 employees in a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). These employees reported getting more sleep on nights before work, and they managed their health differently. They were more likely to go to the doctor when necessary, even when they were busy.

Phyllis Moen, one of the authors of the study, explains that what really makes the difference is culture change:

“Our study shows that moving from viewing time at the office as a sign of productivity to emphasizing actual results can create a work environment that fosters healthy behavior and well-being…This has important policy implications, suggesting that initiatives creating broad access to time flexibility encourage employees to take better care of themselves.”

This is the kind of change we can get behind.

More paid time off isn’t the answer. That’s the old way of doing business. The future of work is no longer logging time, but producing results.

What’s your experience with sick time, vacation days, and PTO in general? As always, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and engage in the conversation below. We love to hear what you have to say!