More than three quarters of adults in Great Britain have worked while unwell, according to a survey of 1,437 working adults.
The research, conducted by Find Out Now on behalf of Bluecrest Wellness, found 76 percent of respondents had worked while sick in the past year.
Almost half of respondents (48 percent) said they worked despite being poorly because they felt they couldn’t let their team down.
Close to two-fifths (38 percent) said they couldn’t afford not to work and, worryingly, 19 percent of participants felt pressure from their employer to work when sick.
Gender and age divide
Among the employees that worked while sick, 44 percent said it took them longer to get better and 23 percent reported that their mental health was impacted.
More than a quarter (28 percent) said they “weren’t themselves when dealing with colleagues”, while 15 percent admitted to making mistakes and 17 percent to “not being themselves when dealing with customers”.
Women were more likely to work while unwell, with 37 percent reporting they had done this frequently in the past 12 months, compared with 24 percent of men.
The survey found a generational divide in employee attitudes to sickness, with people aged over 55 more likely to take time off than younger workers.
‘Presenteeism alive and well’
Survey data showed that 55 percent of the working population said they have felt generally unwell and run down in the last three months.
On top of this, 52 percent of respondents had hesitated to book a GP appointment when they were ill. Women were more likely to avoid booking an appointment than men (59 percent vs 44 percent).
The most common reason given for not going to the doctor, reported by 42 percent of people, was that it was too hard to get an appointment.
Eighteen percent thought they “weren’t sick enough” and another 18 percent “didn’t want to bother the NHS”. As a result, 29 percent thought they’d just wait and see if it got better by itself.
Dr Martin Thornton, chief medical officer at Bluecrest Wellness, said: “Presenteeism is alive and well in British businesses, and it needs to be addressed. People should not be working when they’re not well – and people should absolutely be accessing health support when they need it.
“What’s worrying for us is that opportunities to prevent and detect the early stages of chronic diseases in the community are beginning to be routinely missed. We know that many of these can start with very vague symptoms. Your first sign of heart problems could be just shortness of breath. Your first sign of cancer could be just losing weight. And your first sign of diabetes could just be fatigue.”
Preventative strategies
Thornton continued: “It can be really difficult to put those vague symptoms together, which is why it’s so worrying that so many people are avoiding the GP – or waiting to see if things get worse. Businesses absolutely have a role to play here, not just in facilitating time off, but in actively supporting health and wellbeing – and investing in preventative health strategies.”
Dominque Kent, chief executive at Bluecrest, said: “If organisations really want to improve things like sickness absence rates and productivity, the answer is not to expect or encourage people to work when they’re unwell, but to help them live well – and stay well for the long term.
“There’s been an explosion in health benefits in recent years, but preventative health has often been a missing link. Yet supporting people to understand their health and health risks, make lifestyle changes and spot potentially serious issues early makes clear business sense.”
The findings are outlined in Bluecrest Wellness’ white paper titled ‘Prevention, a new frontier for wellbeing’.
