A new survey from NSF International shows that more than a quarter of American workers admit to heading to the office when they are sick. While workers cited many reasons for coming in to work sick, they pointed to the amount of added workload a sick day would create as the driving factor.

The survey also found that American's clearly value hard-work, even if that means working through a potentially contagious illness; nearly two-thirds of those surveyed considered co-workers to be "hard workers," while only 16 percent felt that their sick colleagues were selfish, or didn't care about the well being of the company's other employees.

Other interesting survey findings about sickness in the workplace include:

• Expectations from above: One-quarter (25 percent) of American workers claim that they go to work when sick because their boss expects them to come in no matter what.

• Pushing through the illness: Men (33 percent) are nearly twice as likely as women (17 percent) to always go to work through their illness or when sick.

• Distrust in the workplace: Thirteen percent of working Americans believe co-workers come to work sick because they don’t trust their colleagues to do the job while they are out.

The NSF suggests workers try to stay home if sick, and offered these additional tips to stay healthy:

• Eat healthy and take certified vitamins.
• Disinfect surfaces.
• Avoid going into work when you feel the onset of cold symptoms.
• Don’t eat in or use common areas like break rooms and cafeterias.


Whether you are sick or currently healthy, prevent the spread of germs and bacteria by washing your hands regularly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. While hand sanitizers are a good tool when you don’t have access to running water, they are not a replacement for proper handwashing.

Read the NSF survey in its entirety, here.