Dr Employer: We need to talk about sickies

With ‘National Sickie Day’ (6 February) coming up, employers can be forgiven for taking vigilant stances against potential employee absence.

However, surprising research from Canada Life Group Insurance found that a staggering nine out of ten employees still go into work when they are ill, citing high workloads as the top reason for this trend.

Presenteeism – coming into work without need, staying later than required or beating colleagues to the desk – is a working culture that doesn’t receive as much attention as absence taken under false pretence.

Yet dragging yourself into work when ill spreads disease; Canada Life’s research found that a whopping 73% of employees had become ill as a direct result of a colleague’s illness.