&quot;Not feeling well&quot; is honest though broad. People shouldn&#x27;t feel bad about telling their boss that. Bosses should feel bad for prying for details. The only point of that would be to judge whether the specific problem is a &quot;real problem&quot;.<p>The typical policy these days is to transfer the employee to some sort of disability after certain patterns of absence (X days in a row, Y days over period Z). I feel that is a good compromise. It&#x27;s also very good for small teams since it&#x27;s a predictable insurance payment, not a risky hire.