Feeling feverish or coughing up a lung? If you’re like the majority of Canadians, chances are work-related pressures will push you to go to the office anyway, according to a poll.
The CareerBuilder survey, released Thursday (November 19), reveals 66% of respondents are heading into the office instead of hitting the sack when ill.
And among those few who do stay home, 28% admit to checking emails on their sick day.
“We’ve found our latest research rather surprising, not least because as many employees are taking time off work to recover from mental health issues as physical ones, thereby illustrating our workforce is tired, stressed and under immense pressure,” said Ryan Lazar, director of CareerBuilder Canada.
Among the top reasons respondents gave for not taking a sick day were anxieties over email inboxes filling up and to-do lists lengthening, which would further boost stress levels.
But Lazar said even in high-pressure environments, it’s up to employers to ensure workers are getting back to the full health. If not, they’ll have to deal with drops in productivity and morale.
While the poll found most Canadians push themselves to get to the office, 18% of those who do call in sick do so to catch up on sleep. And another 25% said they “didn’t feel like going to work.”
The online survey polled 501 part- or full-time workers across Canada between September and October 2015. The results are considered accurate plus-or-minus 4.4%, 19 times out of 20.
