A friend of mine told me recently that her job only allows her one sick day per year. If companies want to save money, it should let the sick stay home. Employees who show up sick for work actually cost their company more money per year.

According to a report in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, that’s because “They have trouble concentrating, operate more sluggishly, and often have to repeat tasks, reducing overall productivity. What’s more, they can make their co-workers sick.”

Millennia ago, many people had laws of sanitation and quarantine that have only recently been rediscovered. If everyone followed those strict rules today, contagious diseases would simply not spread as they do in our society.

Additionally, it would most likely hasten a person’s recovery process when sick, and save the boss money.

Robert Roy, Auburn