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Worried Brits 'take sickness to work'

13/02/2009

British workers worried that missing work during the recession will harm their employment prospects are going to work when ill, says a new study.

According to a poll by YouGov for the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a third of workers said they were more likely to go to work despite being unwell.

The study found 13 per cent said they could not afford to lose pay and five per cent said they were worried their boss would take action, should they call in sick.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, said too often we are told that UK workers "are always taking bogus sickies or taking time off at the first sign of a sniffle".

"But the truth is that we are a nation of mucus-troopers who struggle into work even when we are too ill because we do not want to let colleagues, clients or our employer down."

It is usual procedure for employees to notify their line manager on their first day of absence, employment guidelines suggest.

 

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