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Sick employees who try to fight through their runny noses and sore throats while on the job might seem like workplace troupers, but new research shows they may actually be suffering from a bad case of insecurity.
A new Concordia University study found that employees who were insecure about their jobs also were more likely to attend work while ill — making them present in body but not in spirit.
"Secure employees don't fear retribution for an occasional absence because of sickness," Gary Johns, the study's author and a management professor at Concordia's John Molson School of Business in Montreal, said.
According to the research, over six months employees reported trekking into the office three times while sick; comparatively, they called in sick and stayed home only about one and a half days in that same time period.
Some professions, including caregivers and people working in early education, showed higher rates of employees coming to work while sick. Those working on interdependent projects or in teams also showed higher levels of what the study refers to as "presenteeism."
"Often, a person might feel socially obligated to attend work despite illness, while other employees feel organizational pressure to attend work despite medical discomfort," Johns said.
Although companies have long dealt with issues of increased cases of sick days from employees, Johns said his research suggests businesses actually should be doing more to curb employees’ perceived workplace obligation to be at the office when they’re under the weather.
"Estimating the cost of absenteeism is more tangible than counting the impact of presenteeism," Johns said. "Yet a worker's absence — or presence — during illness can have both costs and benefits for constituents."
The full study, which included surveys of more than 400 employees, was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
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Another useless "study."
Often a person might feel obligated to attend work despite illness because they're out of sick leave and have no vacation time saved up. Given the choice of losing a day's pay or coming in sick, which do you figure most people will do?
(P.S. I don't think people "fear job security." As the article itself states, just the opposite is true. They fear losing their jobs.)
Exactly. I was trying desperately to hoard my one remaining paid day off then had violent food poisoning last week and HAD to call in. Now, if something else happens between now & the end of the year, I'm SOL. No more paid time off. If I get a cold I either have to suck it up or try to not fall behind on bills, taking time without pay. Nice choices. not
I go to work sick because I love my job not because I have to.
People who come to work sick are a bunch of ignorant SOBs. I don't need to get sick because you have three kids at home bringing every kind of germ home from school or preschool. When you get sick stay home so you don't get the rest of us sick forcing us to use our sick days. You come in sick and touch every phone, door handle, office machine in the place. Hacking and coughing all over the place. Stop wasting your sick days when you are not sick and you'll have plenty.
The last couple of times I applied for jobs, I was asked directly how many sick days I had used during the past year. For my current job, the choices were A. zero, B. 1, or C. 2 or more, obviously implying that taking more than one sick day in a year is a bad thing.
I work at Lowes in management (dealing with customers constantly), yet I still drag myself into work regardless of how sick I am. I would much rather stay home when I don't feel well, but I can't afford to risk being fired... I have a family that depends on my income.
In this economy, it is nearly impossible to find a job, and I would rather not lose the one I have.
Remind me not to apply for a job at that crap-hole Lowes.
Don't apply for any job in retail at any store if you can possibly help it!
Some people go to work sick because the choice is very clearly "Come to work sick or lose your job".This is even when the employer knows that the sick employee is contagious.I have been in the workforce 33 years and there have been abusive bosses pulling this for at least that long, so I'm not sure why the writer all of a sudden thinks this is news.
The same goes for driving on icy,life-threatening roads."Risk getting killed, tearing up your car or killing someone else or lose your job."
As I've often said, when there is a science related story a lot of people are going to react in one of two ways:
1. If the study's findings are something they expected then they think the study was useless because "everyone already knew that".
2. If the study's findings are something they WOULDN'T expect, then they think the study was useless because "those ignorant scientists just didn't do the study right".
Devil's Son - Sack it up, unless you're throwing up a lung, no reason to call in sick.
It's not just fear of losing your job, but sometimes, the amount of work that piles up while you're out can become massive. I'd rather come in sick and get caught up with all my work, than miss a day of work, come in the next day, (while still sick, mind you) AND having to deal with a stack of paperwork waiting for me from the day before, hundreds of emails, voicemails, and more catch up work. It's more miserable for me to play catch up the next day than it is to just deal with working through a common cold. I bet this is the case for a lot of other people, but unfortunately, no one thought to include this option on the poll question.
Great point! Sort of like never wanting to use vacation days because coming back from vacation is often worse than just not taking one at all!
Got that right!
And as far as taking time off sick, I was out for a week last year for some surgery, and the day after the operation my manager called me, not to see how I was feeling, but to ask how soon I could come back because "your work is really piling up, and somebody's got to do it."
Damn! Hope I never end up working there! That's just sad. But, sadly common. At one of my previous jobs one of my guys injured his hand fairly badly and since there was quite a bit of blood we opted to go ahead and report the incident (rather than put a bandage on it and drive on). As soon as we called it in, a field supervisor rushed to our shop - not to see how my guy was doing but to ask him if he'd been wearing his gloves! That became a standing joke in our shop. Eventually the joke was twisted around so any time we got our hands cut up we'd say, "Man, I'm sure glad I didn't have my gloves on. I'd have to buy new ones. My hand will heal. Gloves cost money!"
sigh, yes, that's another point. If I'm not here, we're running so lean there's nobody to do my work. IT's all sitting there waiting for me when I get back.....
I don't give a rat's butt about how much work builds up while I'm out sick. If it builds up and has to wait for me to return, it doesn't get done. It'll get done when it gets done, since I am not about to work 80 hours a week for missing 40 as a result of getting swine flu from some nitwit who decides to come to work sick. Matter of fact, if I figure out who it was, maybe I should put pesticides in their coffee to even the score? Sounds fair to me.:)
Another point is personal integrity. People of my generation (50+) simply work when sick because of a high level of work integrity and ethics.
Not sure how much ethics and integrity is involved in exposing all of your fellow workers to your illness.
I had to train two guys to prep for their CDL driving test two years ago. One of them had come to work sick as a dog. As a result, I got to spend an entire day couped up in a truck cab with him; when he went to the doc he was diagnosed with swine flu. Fortunately, I didn't get infected. But, I was unimpressed with his work ethic and integrity for exposing me and the other guy to a potentially serious illness - especially since my insurance at the new job had not yet kicked in.
The work sure as hell isn't going to get done if the entire office or shop gets infected by one individual with an inflated view of their importance to the organization.
And it's so satisfying when you're feeling miserable to come in and spread the wealth around to your co-workers, so they can feel miserable too.
Misery loves company. . .
It may be that "high integrity" that these employers are exploiting. We can learn a lot from Europeans and Canadians.
Some of these comments about making coworkers sick are disturbing. It sounds like you would not tell a partner you had STD like herpes either.
Believe me, none of these work place heroes would. Don't want to get cut off now, do they? Pure selfishness, nothing more.
@Sapience: How is staying home rather than coming to work and getting your co-workers sick anything remotely like not telling your sex buddy that you have an STD? Or, are you saying that going to work sick is like not telling?
I'm older than you, and do not buy into that line of crap at all. Sounds like your job sucks, and you're afraid to lose it, sucky as it is.
Humans get sick. No matter how healthy we try to be, sickness occurs. Fortunately I work for a large company that has unlimited sick days so if I am not well, I do not feel guilty about not coming into work. I have worked for companies in the past however, where there were no allocatted sick days and I felt penalized to burn days I earned off to stay home due to illness. It is strange that our employers help pay for our health insurance, yet penalize us even more to use the insurance to get better...
I remember two employers that had "unlimited" sick leave in that the official policy was "If you're sick, you have the paid time, regardless. Please don't come in, infect anyone else, and throw our whole schedule off."
It's a good policy - at the first place, it wasn't abused, and it worked.
At the second place, I have no idea if it was abused. However, they ALSO said to let them know, as soon as possible, with as much lead time as possible, if you were going to have to call out sick.
At this second place, I made the mistake of leaving a message the night before. I even said "If I'm feeling better, I'll be in, but if not, I'm going to be out sick"
The following day I was sort of told, not in writing, not in email, but verbally, by the manager that I should probably call out the day of, rather than the night before, because then it "becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy"
So much for giving the courtesy of as much notice as possible, which they officially wanted.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. This manager had other issues, which, in my non-managerial opinion (which was shared by a number of other employees there), made him poor manager material.
Here's one for ya. When the tornadoes hit, my employer shut down for 5 days. Two of them they absorbed but the other three were on us - either use vacation or take it without pay. Now, during that time I kind of cut my finger while cutting up fallen trees (sort of a recurring theme in my life, I guess) and needed some medical attention. But, the policy was "vacation or LWOP," so, even though I could have used sick leave for this had it happened any other day of the year, I got jacked for a vacation day that I really had other plans for!
I've heard of some employers who don't differentiate between sick days and vacation days. They just give a set number of days of "PTO" (paid time off) and what you do with them is up to you. Of course they probably still request notice when you plan to use the PTO time, but I'd imagine the rules would be somewhat clearer and simpler.
You don't work for Duracell do you? They did the same thing to their employees when the tornadoes hit. Now they're trying to force them into 16 hour shifts here to catch up on all the battery orders that came about because of the tornadoes and hurricanes this year. I guess they're not interested in the well-being of their workforce since they will essentially be asking them to work 3 full time jobs in one day. I doubt it will come to pass, but the fact that they are even considering it is sickening.
No. Not Duracell. And, I'm really not complaining since my employer DID give us two days for free. But, it just struck me as sort of stupid that when I submitted my time sheet with one day of sick time and the other two days of vacation, they rejected it and told me I had to use vacation instead of sick. . . I probably could have pushed the issue, but it really wasn't worth stirring the pot.
Corporations have workers exactly where they want them. Low wages, no job mobility or security at all. They have to work two jobs from cradle to grave and have no time or energy to try to figure out alternatives. Someone can be fired at will in most states, and the position can be filled before lunch. Benefits are rapidly dwindling away to nothing, and nobody dares say a word.
This is what the 99% are saying.
If that's what they're saying, then they're basically advocating communism and I hope they get shut down sooner rather than later.
What they should be saying is that corporate and government leaders (to include "economic leaders" or what everyone likes to call "the rich") need to have a moral compass and some sense of stewardship rather than being driven solely by personal greed. If they make that their mantra and rallying cry, I'll be right there with them.
I have sick days, but I also have deadlines. Sure I can take the sick days, but deadline is not contingent on sick days. I'll do whatever it takes to get the job done, if the entire office gets sick, well, you can thank my deadline for it coz I get penalized when I miss deadline, but not a single problem for me if everyone else is sick. They get the behavior they reward for. Good for them.
well you are a hero yus,glad you have sick days but i don`t wish you ill health.
Ah, so very true.
Don't forget the management demanding "I need that by Friday!" then going on vacation the next week...
i asked for time and a half once for overtime,the answer was,will you do half again as much work.
I once worked at a place where you could only get OT if you were ahead of schedule on the project. I swear it was like working in a Joseph Heller novel.
Hey, Cap. I just played that one recently! "I need that by Friday," and then the boss takes about 5 days to make a bunch of totally invalid "suggested" changes to the document which I then implemented (or convinced her were just stupid) - so she could then turn around and pass the thing around to several people for their review. Two weeks later, not a single one of those reviewers has had a single thing to say about it! Oh, well. Job security!
Soundls like your boss needs some serious pimp-slappin'!
We are slowly but surely working our way up to the corporate/republican workers paradise that the right wingers have been dreaming of for years. Less pay, less job security (But you damn well better be loyal to our company),part time, no benefits.
Your political characterizations are off-base. This is not a political issue. It's a management issue. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called "managers" are nothing more than idiots with business degrees (very easy to get a business degree, so there are lots of idiots who have them). Thus, you get policies like these designed to make low-level managers look good in PowerPoint presentations.
Not Political?? Guess how the majority of Management votes.
You're confusing cause with something else. The majority of management probably plays golf, too, but that has nothing to do with how they manage. Not to mention that you'd have a very hard time substantiating your claim.
Something seems strange to me that workers would be sick 4.5 times in six months. It says times not days. I do not believe the average person is sick that many times in six months. This as with a lot of research is skewed way off.
It may not be often, but there are those who tend to get sick more often than the norm. My husband has Crohn's Disease and has started having 1-2 yearly flare-ups the last 4 years. He usually ends up taking the first day off because he is in so much pain but after he works regardless. One year, he had 2 flare-ups, the shingles, and the flu all in the same year. On top of that, 3 of our 4 kids and myself all ended up with a flu that started on the same day and lasted 3 days straight. He missed work shampooing a mattress and carpet, dumping trashcans and buckets, escorting people to toilets, grabbing toilet paper, tracking medicine times, getting drinks and snacks, and caring for the only nonsick person in the house, a 3 year old.
Of all those incidents, he worked through his shingles--he worked through his Crohn's attacks aside from missing 1 day of each attack, and called in sick to care for the family when we ended up with the flu after he got better--except his wasn't as bad as ours--he didn't throw up. His may be due to his age and the fact that he had worked for over 6 years 7 days a week with no vacation time, no sick time, no nothing. His body is worn out and he is only in his 40s--prob is, he goes when he is sick because he can't afford the time off and sick pay is limited so he can get other guys sick--but then, they also work sick and get him sick as well. It is a vicious cycle.
And you based your conclusion on what? Yeah, I thought so.
I know from experience it matters who and what you are when it comes to "special favors' at the work place. There is no way I could've gotten away with the stunts/abuse of sick leave, that many who are of a different walk of life than I did. Endured the double-standard for 30+ years. Maddening.
I always came down with an allergic type of cold a certain time every year. I worked for the federal government. I didn't really consider myself sick, just allergic to something so I went to work anyway. One time the boss told me to go home and not come back till after the weekend. So I obeyed him. I guess maybe the other employees thought they'd catch whatever I had and complained to the boss, although to me it was just what happens every winter to me. I'm retired now and I don't recall being sick one day since I'm retired. Of course, I don't have to get up every day the same time and can stay under the covers as long as I want.
The people who do these studies must have no f#@%$& clue what it is to work in corporate America. This is news? Yes, we go to work sick, unless we're too sick to get out of bed. The researchers must either be students or tenured professors.
What is really sad is the veterans, the seniors and the poor are going to bear the burden of the failure of the super committee to do their job! These losers have millions put away for a rainy day and yet they continue to cheat and steal money with their graft and insider dealings. They and the lobbyists are running the country and gaining wealth for themselves, while we suffer. It is time for a change. We will not put up with it any longer. We need a special group established by the people to investigate all of the corruption and stealing and lock all of those guilty up for 30 years or more.
WTF?
Where's the option for "not allowed to call out for any reason - will lose job"?
Why do our bodies have immune systems???
I do not shelter myself from people with colds, flu sniffling kids and I don't take any extra precautions and for that reason my immune system works like it should and keeps me protected and in good health. Im not saying I don't get colds from time to time but they never last more than 2days before I start feeling and getting better and in 3-4 days it's back to normal . Last 25yrs never missed a days work and I cant remember in those years ever having the FLU I just don't ever get the FLU and I don't get FLU shots either. Worked with the retail public for the last 25yrs so I come into contact with all the Normal stuff and I do just fine. If we are in good health and eat half way decent our immune system should be able to fight off MOST colds and germs out there with very minimal down time. Now if you have a compromised immune system for any reason that is a different story but you should be the one taking the extra precautions not others.
That's a good point, but let me put this to you for your consideration.
I'm a very healthy person - always have been. In fact, I was so healthy that I had never had chicken pox. Then, at the age of 30, I went to a party with a bunch of friends. The host had young kids. One of the other guests also had young kids - kids who had chicken pox at that time. The host wanted his kids to get chicken pox so they could just go ahead and get that behind them. So, without bothering to mention this to anyone else, this idiot invites these chicken pox infected kids to the party. Three days later, guess who's got chicken pox? At age 30, having chicken pox is no joke.
The point being that regardless of how YOU may feel about being exposed to someone else's infectious illness, not everyone cares to be involuntarily exposed. We'd prefer that our sick co-workers stay home.
Guess you have no problems with unprotected sex then?
i go to work sick even thou i have vac to take, if i can walk im going to work and dont care about my co-workers, i have to be on my death bed before i miss any work, i havent miss i day of work in 12 yrs besides taken days off for vac or paid holidays
Did I just read that correctly, you dont care if you make your coworkers sick?
You're S C U M!!!!!
If you cough or sneeze on me, you're gonna need a lot of sick time, because you won't be able to walk to work.
Just goes to show there are inconsiderate, self-absorbed bastards everywhere.
In Japan and the far east countries people that are sick with colds and flu wear face masks to cover their mouths and noses so they don't breath their germs on other people. I cant stand it when someone that is sick reaches out to shake your hand or coughs in your face when you are talking to them. Nothing worse than coming to work in the morning healthy and going home sick in the afternoon because some coworker did not care if he/she spread their sickness to others.
These are the s c u m that spread the flu and colds because they're so self-absorbed.
I don't have a choice in my contracting job. If I don't work I don't get paid. Most of the time I get sick while 1000 miles away from home. Usually while in a hotel. A few months ago I had my first kidney stone attack while in Minnesota. I had to miss 2 nights work and ran up a $4500 emergency room visit. I boarded the plane back to Dallas in intense pain so I could get home to rest. Lost big money on that one. My carrier starting going downhill in 2001 after the first layoffs in high tech and I never have recovered. I just keep getting on stinking airplanes to head off to markets I have been to 20 times over and over and sometimes I get sick while at my suck ass job. I remember getting the flu while in New York City a few years ago. That was bad.
Your carrier started going downhill? I didn't even know the damn things could do anything other than float on the ocean and launch planes.