Go To Work Sick....

....And make everybody sick.

April 7, 2010 08:18 AM E-mail| |Comments (79)| Text size – +

Globe Staff

Feeling lousy? Too bad. Suck it up and go to work. "You gotta play hurt" is a necessary survival skill these days. In a tough economy, calling in sick is a luxury few can afford. And work loads are so heavy now that having the flu or bad allergies is deemed a poor excuse for skipping a day at the office.

Such are the findings of a new survey from Monster.com, the job-search website with much of its operations in Maynard.

Survey results indicate a large proportion of people prioritize work above their health, Monster said. In a press release, the company added that it polled nearly 34,000 people in 15 countries, and only 13 percent said they work from home when sick, rather than going to the office.

Just over a third said that work is "too busy for me to miss a day," and 28 percent cited the fear of losing their job as big reason for going to work even when feeling under the weather, Monster said.

"Deciding whether to come to work sick or not can be a very emotional issue for some," Monster.com senior research director Jeff Quinn said in a statement. "People try to balance urgent recommendations from health organizations to limit the spread of H1N1 by staying home, with the fear of risking their job security in this economy. To help alleviate any issues, managers might help their employees better understand that they are expected to stay home when sick. Managers should also follow their own advice and not come in to the office if they're sick themselves."

(Monster has numerous relationships with media outlets to sell help-wanted advertising, including The Boston Globe and its website, Boston.com.)

Let The Sun Shine In......