Workplace Report March 2009

Health & safety news

Too ill to work

One in four of the workforce went to work despite thinking they were too ill to do so in January, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by the TUC.

The YouGov poll found that more than half the workforce (57%) said they had gone to work when too ill during the last year. Nearly 1.5 million (6%) said they were worried that their boss would take action against them. More than one in four (29%) said that the recession will make them more likely to go to work when ill.

Brendan Barber TUC general secretary said: “Too often we are told that British workers are always taking bogus sickies or taking time off at the first sign of a sniffle.”