Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Sickness absenceOccupational Health

Average employee worked four days while unwell last year

by Ashleigh Webber 29 May 2018
by Ashleigh Webber 29 May 2018

The average employee worked for more than four days when they were genuinely ill last year, while more than half delayed seeking medical advice because they did not want to take time off work.

A survey of 2,496 workers by employee benefits and insurance provider Personal Group and online doctor service videoDoc found that three quarters of employees went to work last year when they should have taken sick leave. Half of women felt pressured to work while ill, compared with 38.5% of men.

Medical appointments

Policy on time off for medical and dental appointments

Do employees have a right to time off to attend doctor or dentist appointments?

Some 52% overall postponed seeking medical advice because they did not want to take time off work, while 38.8% of employees discovered that they needed treatment after delaying a trip to a health professional.

Many employees avoided taking time off work to see a GP; 15.7% took unpaid leave, 17.5% took annual leave and 22.4% left work early or arrived late in order to attend a medical appointment.

Those aged 16-24 were more likely to go to work while ill than other age groups, with 86.6% having done so. A quarter of those in this age bracket had taken unpaid leave to see their GP, or had lied to their employer about it.

HR was the most likely professional group to work while ill, with 83% of those in HR suggesting they had done so in the last year. Seven in 10 HR professionals delayed seeking medical advice and 70.9% felt uncomfortable taking time off while ill.

When asked if their employer was happy with them taking paid time off to see a GP, only 9% of HR personnel said their organisation accepted this, compared with 17.5% across the entire UK workforce. Almost a third of those working in HR had used their annual leave to see a GP.

Almost half (47.5%) of all workers claimed they would use an online GP service if it was quicker than seeing one in person. Seven in 10 believed organisations should offer it as a benefit to their employees.

Dr Brian McManus, medical director at videoDoc suggested that employees felt pressured to struggle into work to meet their employers’ workload demands.

“This pressure is only going to increase and so while we always recommend that people take the time to visit their GP in person, especially when they are concerned about their health, we see online doctor video consultations as an important means to circumvent time constraints in appropriate cases,” he explained.

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor of OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Could crowdsourcing be the answer to finding great talent?
next post
Jeremy Hunt vows to close NHS doctors gender pay gap

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Record number out of work due to long-term...

16 May 2023

Top 10 HR questions April 2023: Bank holiday...

3 May 2023

Days lost to sickness at highest rate since...

26 Apr 2023

UK managers see rise in mental health issues

27 Mar 2023

White paper: Managing sickness absence in the hybrid...

8 Feb 2023

Top 10 HR Questions January 2023: Flexible working...

1 Feb 2023

Reducing compensation for dismissal was not disability discrimination,...

30 Jan 2023

Top 10 HR questions December 2022: unfair dismissal...

5 Jan 2023

Warnings over patients unable to afford sick leave...

28 Nov 2022

Hiring problems set to continue, finds Indeed report

24 Nov 2022

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today