Australians Going to Work Sick

Australians Going to Work Sick

Australians are choosing work deadlines over their health with 98 per cent of respondents to a new survey by national employment site, CareerOne.com.au admitting working when sick.

The survey conducted by CareerOne.com.au in partnership with CoreData also found:

• Most of the respondents who admitted to coming into work sick did so in order to attend an important meeting or meet a critical deadline.
• Over half of respondents (57 per cent) also admitted to checking their work email, taking work calls and working while at home on sick leave.
• 90 per cent of respondents claimed to have caught a bug off someone at work.
• More than two thirds of respondents have taken sick leave even though they weren’t physically sick although 48 per cent of these respondents said it was because mentally, they just needed a day off.
• Just over one third of employees said that their employers didn’t offer free flu vaccines. 73 per cent of respondents suspect foul play when co-workers take a Friday or Monday off sick.

Kate Southam, editor of CareerOne.com.au was not surprised by the survey results given the current climate of surrounding job security.

“The survey shows many people are not only coming to work sick just to attend important meetings and meet deadlines and that it is all too common to work at home while off sick.

“While some in the employment sector would argue that a skills shortage remains and that unemployment figures are still well below where they were in the early 1990s, speculation about rising unemployment figures and redundancies hitting the headlines have people fearful.

“If workers perceive their employment prospects are uncertain then sadly they are more likely to take on ever increasing work loads and come into work sick.”

Ms Southam urged people to redress the balance between work and non-work time or pay the price with their health.

“People can become anxious when it comes to speaking to their manager about their workload, but if they don’t speak up and instead burn out, they may not be able to work at all.

“Go to the boss before things get out of hand and rather than complain, ask for advice on how work should be prioritised. It really is up to a manager to review deadlines with you and reassign some of the work if need be.

“A person’s health should be their number one priority, especially when working additional hours begins to not only affect their health, but the health of those around them.”

CareerOne.com.au has a range of articles covering work/life balance and appraoching managers.

For more information, Australians can visit: http://www.careerone.com.au/news-advice/work-life/work-life-balance