Slack Status for Sick Days: Examples to Copy and What Out Sick Changes

For a sick day, pick Slack's built-in Out sick status (the 🤒 :face_with_thermometer: emoji), leave Duration on Today, and tick Pause notifications until status is cleared if you are fully off. The status then clears itself at midnight and your notifications come back with it. If you are sick but still working, leave notifications on and use a line such as 🤒 "Under the weather, replies will be slow".

We set a sick status in a test Slack workspace on 30 September 2026 and checked what it changes. The results are below, with screenshots from the Slack web app.

Slack already has an Out sick status

Open the status box and Slack suggests five statuses. Out sick is one of them, with the thermometer face and a Duration of Today already filled in.

Click it, then change the text if you want to add when you are back or who covers for you. The emoji and the Duration stay as they are.

What our test showed

We saved the status above at 21:24 KST and read the account back through Slack's API.

• • Today means 23:59:59 in your own time zone. The status got an expiry of 23:59:59 KST the same day. Hovering the emoji showed "Until tomorrow".
• • The checkbox pauses notifications until the same moment. Slack's dnd.info showed notifications snoozed until 00:00:12, 13 seconds after the status expiry.
• • Your dot stays green. The profile read "Active, notifications snoozed". Pausing notifications does not make you look away or offline. The dot follows your activity in Slack, as how Slack active status works explains.
• • Clearing the status early turns notifications back on at once. We clicked Clear status a minute later. The snooze ended, and the profile went back to plain "Active".
• • It also cancelled that night's notification schedule. Our account pauses notifications from 17:00 to 09:00 on a schedule. Before the test, Slack listed the pause as running until 09:00 the next morning. After Clear status, it listed the next pause as starting at 17:00 the next day, so notifications stayed on overnight. If you clear a sick status in the evening, open your profile menu and check Notifications before you go to bed.


Coworkers see the emoji next to your name on every message you post, and the full line when they hover over it:



Slack statuses for sick days

All under Slack's 100-character limit. Copy one, then change the details.

Fully off sick

• • 🤒 Out sick today, back tomorrow
• • 🤒 Out sick. For anything urgent, ask Sam
• • 🤧 Off sick, not checking Slack
• • 🛌 Sick day. Back Thursday
• • 😷 Out sick. Replies when I'm back

Sick but working

• • 🤒 Under the weather, replies will be slow
• • 🍵 Working from bed today, async only
• • 🔇 Sick, no calls today, messages OK
• • 😷 Working from home so I don't share this
• • 🤧 Slow today. Tag me if it's urgent

Signing off early, or a half day

• • 💊 Signing off at noon, not feeling well
• • 🤕 Logging off early today, back tomorrow
• • 🏥 At the doctor until 2 PM

Name a backup person when you can. It is the line coworkers need most. For more doctor and dentist lines, see Slack status for a doctor appointment.

Sick emoji codes that work in Slack

We added each of these as a reaction in Slack on 30 September 2026. Type the code in the status box or the emoji search.

Emoji	Code	Emoji	Code
🤒	:face_with_thermometer:	🤧	:sneezing_face:
😷	:mask:	🤢	:nauseated_face:
🤮	:face_vomiting:	🤕	:face_with_head_bandage:
🥴	:woozy_face:	🥵	:hot_face:
🥶	:cold_face:	😵	:dizzy_face:
🌡️	:thermometer:	💊	:pill:
💉	:syringe:	🩹	:adhesive_bandage:
🩺	:stethoscope:	🦠	:microbe:
🏥	:hospital:	🛌	:bed:
🍵	:tea:	🧻	:roll_of_paper:

Slack rejected :sick:, :flu:, :sneeze: and :thermometer_face: with invalid_name. The thermometer face is :face_with_thermometer:.

Setting it on desktop and phone

• Click your profile photo at the bottom left, then Update your status. On the phone, tap You, then Update your status.
• Click Out sick, or type your own text and pick an emoji.
• Leave Duration on Today. For a longer absence, choose Choose a start and end time.
• Tick Pause notifications until status is cleared if you are fully off.
• Click Save.

If you leave Duration on Don't clear, you come back the next day still showing as sick. To set the status the night before, or for several days, see how to schedule a Slack status. If you would rather look offline while you read messages, use Set yourself as away from the same menu; the steps are in how to appear offline on Slack.

FAQ

Does my manager get told when I set a sick status?

No. Slack sends no notification when you set or change a status. People see it next to your name on messages, in your profile, and at the top of a DM with you.

Is there a sick status in Microsoft Teams?

No built-in one. Teams users set a status message or schedule Out of office; see Teams status for sick days.

What if I am off for a week?

Choose Choose a start and end time under Duration, and set an out of office message too; see how to set up an out of office message on Slack.