The research by CV-Library also found that over half of catering workers (54.8%) only take one sick day per year and 61.9% admit to feeling guilty for taking sick days.
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “Staff productivity and wellbeing are key contributors to the success of any business, let alone in catering organisations.
“This is why it’s important to promote best practice in the workplace; breeding a culture that encourages people to come to work when sick is not beneficial to employees or businesses and if workers are clearly ill, they should be advised to go home and recover, so they can return to work happy and healthy. This is particularly true of the catering sector, where staff will be working around food, and need to adhere to mandatory hygiene standards, in order to avoid spreading germs.”
The majority (90.5%) of employers advise that it is unbeneficial for business to have staff in when they’re unwell, but nearly two thirds (61.9%) don’t send their employees home if they’re sick at work.
Nearly half (47.6%) of catering employees also revealed that their managers even put pressure on them to return to work early and a further 54.8% said their employer questions their sickness when they’re ill.
The research also explored the topic of sickness entitlements, revealing that less than half (42.9%) of catering organisations offer sick pay, placing many catering workers in a financial conundrum if they are unable to afford time off. In comparison, 88.1% of employees in the sector believe that businesses should continue to pay their staff when they are off sick.