A sneezing, a small cough, a bit of scratching in the throat: you feel that you are getting sick. But it's not that bad. You are very well anyway! Because of such a little weakness you can not stay at home. There are already others sitting with worse symptoms in the office! My God, you're drinking a Neocitran and throwing yourself in the warmest sweater, it'll work out somehow. Many have already had this train of thought. It's a flu or cold coming on and you would like to herd the bed, but you can not bring it over. You feel obligated to your colleagues or your superiors, you still have too much work to do or even a fear of being dismissed. The reasons for the so-called "presentism" are manifold.

One third of Austrians go to work sick.

However morally correct a sick worker may seem, it's almost never a good idea to go to work sick! On the one hand, the body needs its rest in order to fully recover. On the other hand, there is also the danger that the environment will also be infected. And of course one should not forget the psychic component. Because a job in which one has the feeling that one should never be missing, is unhealthy in the long term. This was also the result of observations by the Austrian Health Monitor of AK Ober sterreich. Thirty-three percent of the unemployed in Austria work even when they are ill. And during the economic crisis, it was even more. Now the AK warns of the consequences of such a false "obedience".

Why we go to the office sick has many reasons.

Many workers are unaware of the pressure their job puts on them. But the reality is that constant stress and working with sick leave longer-term costs and problems for companies. Psychosomatic disorders, burnouts and depression could be prevented with good prevention and more worker protection. For example, in the case of illness, there would have to be a separate protection against termination, says AK President Dr. Ing. Johann Kalliauer. And even if you can not change the system of the "beautiful, new world of work" so quickly, there are already some opportunities for improvement. For example, employers should not praise their employees if they appear ill in the job. The motivation should rather be: "Messenger out! Get well!", Read.