Many workers go to work sick

DAK study: Majority of employees also go to work sick

09/26/2014

Many workers go to work in spite of illness, according to the results of a representative DAK health survey in the context of their health report 2014. „One in six young workers is on the job for up to 20 days with health problems“, reports the health insurance. In total, around 3,200 men and women were surveyed nationwide by the Forsa Institute on behalf of the DAK.

According to the DAK, among the employees between the ages of 25 and 40, a majority also goes to work sick. According to the latest survey results drag „Almost two-thirds of people with health problems go to the office, to the workshop or to other workplaces“, so the message of the health insurance. In particular, the employees of the so-called rush hour generation between 30 and 40 years, which are particularly burdened by career and family would often not cure properly. „More than one in three of them (36 percent) went to work sick for three to ten days“, reports the DAK. One in six people in this age group even went to work ill for eleven to twenty days.

The survey has also made it clear that employees with three or more children appear particularly often despite illness at work, according to the statement of the health insurance. Of them „60 percent stated that they had worked ill for three to 20 days a year.“ As a key reason for this behavior, Frank Meiners, a graduate psychologist at the DAK-health, calls that many are simply afraid that a sick leave could jeopardize their job. In addition, workers with children often have the impression that they are often missing because of illness of the children, which is why some make compromises on themselves, so Meiners on.

Presentativeness for workers and employers a problem
The DAK concludes that so-called presentivism, ie being in the workplace despite illness, is a widespread problem - for both workers and employers. Because on the one hand, the employees do not cure themselves properly, which is critical from a health point of view. On the other hand, they are less productive due to the disease and possibly even put on colleagues what the employers cost money, reports the DAK. „It is therefore all the more important to promote employee health, for example with occupational health management“, so the conclusion of the health insurance. (Fp)