Forcing ill workers in to work is sick

Encouraging workers to leave their sick beds and struggle in to work is a costly mistake, a recent US study reports.

Workers who come in sick cost their employers an average of $255 (£144) each per year, say researchers from Cornell University. Sick employees have difficulty concentrating, work more slowly and have to repeat tasks, reducing productivity.

* Ron Z Goetzel and others. "Health, absence, disability, and presenteeism", Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 46(4), pages 398-412, April 2004.