39% of all American workers (about 41 million people) do not receive paid sick leave. This means people turn up for work and infect their colleagues when illness strikes. It’s even worse when they infect the customers. At fast-food restaurant, Chipotle, workers recently infected hundreds of customers with norovirus. (“Did you want that to go?”)
The UK is no better when it comes to illness.
- 86% of us turn up to work with something infectious.
- 25% of employees are too afraid to take time off when ill.
- 45% of employees say that their colleagues return to work before fully recovered after illness.
We drag our infected bodies to the office because of high workload, managerial pressure, job insecurity and just a failure to understand the impact of communicable diseases.
Throw guilt into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. No one wants their boss to think that they are “throwing a sickie”, so they pitch up at their desk and ensure everyone catches whatever they have.
It’s so good to share.
Isn’t it time for managers and company owners to stop focusing on time lost to illness and emphasise the benefits of wellness and the cost of being ill at work?
Some studies show that the cost of people passing on bugs at work is larger than the combined costs of medical care, prescription drugs and absenteeism.
I’m not sure I buy into all of this last statement because it was probably sponsored by big pharma companies hoping to justify their latest drugs. However, we must accept that we do become ill and need time to recover. Even Hillary Clinton benefitted from a few days off the campaign trail!
She recovered in a few days and wasn’t hurt by jibes from the Trump camp about her ability to cope with the demands of the ‘big job’.