Apparently there really is no rest for the weary, as a considerable portion of Americans say that despite their being sick, they frequently go into work to put in their standard eight-hour day.
The poll, which was performed by staffing services company OfficeTeam, found that seven in 10 respondents confessed to going into the office even though they probably should take a sick day. Of these, more than 40 percent said that they do this type of thing "very frequently." Meanwhile, just 13 percent said that they never go to work when they're ill.
For the most part, business owners are aware of this tendency to work in spite of an illness. Nearly two-thirds of manager polled said that they were aware that their employees worked through a cold or flu bug.
Robert Hosking, executive director for the Menlo Park, Calif.-based human resources firm, noted that the reason why so many labor through their bouts of sickness is because they don't want to fall behind on their workload.
"Managers should encourage their teams to stay home when they are sick. Let staff know that there's nothing heroic about spreading colds and flus," said Hosking.
Being under the weather rarely results in an ability to see a doctor at a moment's notice. In a separate survey performed by physician search and consulting firm Merritt Hawkins, the average physician wait time in the U.S. among family doctors is approximately three weeks. In the 15 largest metropolitan areas, Boston area workers have to wait the longest, averaging 45 days. Meanwhile, the shortest wait is about five days in Dallas.
Mark Smith, president of Merritt Hawkins, noted that not even employee benefits enable people to see their doctor as soon as they want to.
"More physicians will need to be trained, and access to other types of providers expanded, to ensure that health care delayed does not become health care denied," said Smith.
