Do you soldier on when sick?

Have you suffered on at work when ill? Could you have done with a duvet day but yet powered on? According to a new poll from constructaquote.com more than 90 per cent of construction industry workers have admitted to going to work despite knowing they were too ill and standards may have been not what they should be.   Top of the charts of worries over not making it to work was loss of earnings and the struggle to make ends meet. Forty-seven per cent of respondents said their freelance, contracted or self-employed status meant they simply would not be paid if they didn’t turn up for work – 21 per cent were unsure of the sick pay rules with their employer.   Of those questioned:

• 72 per cent needed to make sure they earned enough to pay their bills
• 61 per cent didn’t appreciate how ill they were until they got to work
• 53 per cent didn’t want to risk losing their job by getting ill
• 21 per cent didn’t want younger colleagues to think they were getting too old for the job
• 14 per cent though being at work would make them feel better

  A spokesperson for comstructaquote.com commented on the poll: “While it may be easier for those working in office-based jobs to ‘power through’ and continue to work while struck down with illness or injury, for those working in the high-pressured and manual construction sector, it is going to have a harsher effect and be far harder to keep going. As a result, it’s extremely worrying to see the results of this study.”  

To help keep yourself in tip top condition this winter while you’re flat out with boiler breakdowns and freezing pipes, click here for the NHS’ five key ways of staying healthy! Good luck!