Why Do We Go to Work Sick?

Thomson Reuters' health unit recent conducted a research project to investigate the reason people go to work when the know they are ill. For those making less then $25,000.oo a year, over half of the respondents cited lost wages as reason for going to work.

For those making $100,00 or more, only 6% cited lost pay as a reason to take time of to get better.

From a management perspective, this caught my eye. Sick workers are not productive. They also put their fellow employees at risk for what ever illness they are coming to work with.

As I am currently working in a restaurant, putting my self through school this article grabbed my interest. Where I work doesn't provide health insurance. We are frequently avoiding people who come to work complaining about their current a cold or flu or cursing their name for having passed it along to the rest of us. I am very happy that research is being done on the subject and hope it sheds some light on how health care impacts workers. Very little consideration or value is place on the employees on the bottom of the totem pole. My hope is that upper management starts to realize the pressure that employees on the bottom of the totem pole face. Without the resources to get better, we are infecting each other, working sick and less productive.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/04/sick_day_most_americans_work_a.html?ft=1&f=1001