Ninety per cent of Brits would prefer if sick colleagues worked from home or took a sick day rather than coming into the office.
Health on Female First
The new research from Otrivine® has found that over half (52 per cent) of Brits are repulsed by cold-suffering colleagues not covering their mouths when they cough.
Forty-four per cent of UK workers find sniffing and wiping runny noses on sleeves disgusting and annoying - explaining why Brits want cold-suffering colleagues to stay away.
Poorly Brits are aware of their irritating workplace behaviour when suffering with a cold, with 46 per cent of kitchen workers admitting to sneezing without covering their mouth and nose.
Thirty-one per cent of restaurant workers confess to coughing without covering their mouth, and wiping their nose on their hand (28 per cent).
Colleagues top eight annoying symptoms associated with a cold:
- Not covering their mouth when they cough - 52%
- Sniffing - 44%
- Wiping their nose on their sleeve - 44%
- Sneezing - 41%
- Dirty tissues - 40%
- Runny noses - 31%
- Blowing noses - 29%
- Complaining of being ill - 28%
The research also found that the average Brit (34 per cent) takes between one and five days off of work a year thanks to the common cold; those aged between 26 to 30 take the most days off work, and men are more familiar with sick days than women - with ten per cent admitting to taking between six and eight days off a year due to the common cold, versus five per cent of women.
With 30.61million Brits in work in the UK, it equates to an estimated 153million sick-days a year.
It comes as no surprise that Brits would rather take a day off, as the annoying symptoms associated with a cold have led to a quarter of sufferers (25 per cent) feeling embarrassed and self-conscious about their symptoms, whilst 18 per cent feel that they annoy their colleagues with their constant sniffling.
Tagged in Health