Third Of Workers Attend When Ill
As Stress
At Work Effects UK Worst
HR managers and company bosses may wish to look at their sickness policies as a result of the latest findings of the cost to the country of people going to work whilst ill.
The report has warned that the high number of people who still go into work when they are ill is "bad for business" and costs billions of pounds a year for British industry.
Almost one in three (30%) UK workers turn up at work when they are ill, primarily motivated by the fear of losing their job during the economic crisis, according to the charity Nuffield Health.
Retail staff aged between 16 and 24 were found to be most likely to ignore illness and carry on, but risked spreading anything contagious to colleagues, the report claimed.
Nuffield Health Managing Director Marcus Powell said:
"Employees going into work sick costs business dearly - up to £15 billion a year. Our research shows the economic downturn has made people more likely to go into work sick often because they fear losing their job.
This is bad for business. The corporate world knows that staff wellbeing directly affects their profits. That is why more and more businesses are providing good clinical and fitness experts for their workers."
The problem is that most company policies result in simply sacking sick workers with no concern for the cost to the individual, their families, or the country.
If this were not bad enough, workplace stress is at a four-year high, according to a Kenexa High Performance Institute report which revealed that 35% of UK employees are now experiencing an unreasonable level of stress at work.
The four-year study of 60,000 workers in six countries by the Kenexa High Performance Institute shows the UK's stress level has risen by 10 percentage points since 2008, making it the highest out of the countries surveyed: the UK, the United States, Germany, China, Brazil and India.
Rena Rasch, research manager at the Kenexa High Performance Institute, is quoted in the HR Magazine as saying:
"There has been a marked increase in workplace stress in every country, industry and job type, to the extent that it is now higher than at any time in the last four years. High stress levels increase absenteeism and decrease productivity. For individuals, stress causes sleep deprivation, headaches, high blood pressure and greater susceptibility to illness, which lowers well being and increases the chance of burn out."
The main causes of employee stress, identified in the report, are work-life conflict; poor leadership and management behaviour; lack of job security; lack of team cohesiveness; lack of cooperation and dissatisfaction with the level of pay.
Source: IOSH / Press Association / HR Magazine
