News: Performance Management
Workers worry about what the boss might think
07 May 2008
A new survey has revealed that two-thirds of workers in Britain go to work even when they are sick, for fear of what their bosses might think if they did not.
Research by TNS revealed that 67 per cent of the 1,000 people polled went to work when feeling under the weather as they worried about what their colleagues and superiors might assume if they were to phone in sick.
Meanwhile, 73 per cent claimed they attended their jobs when sick because they had too much work to do, while 54 per cent felt their promotional prospects would be affected if they took time off.
Gemma Camp, head of stakeholder management at TNS, said the findings were a worrying sign of the pressure employees in the UK felt themselves to be under.
"This sends an alarming message to employers about working cultures and the pressure they are putting on their employees. These results show that there is a wide-spread fear among British employees to be seen as 'slacking off'," she said.
Operating for over 60 years, TNS conducts market research into different industry sectors.
