Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Survey: Workers likely to bring sickness into office

North Las Vegas resident Jeff Brown has missed only one day of work in 10 years, but he's been sick more often than that.

"I always go to work," said the 34-year-old 7-Eleven field consultant. "The job I have usually prevents me from taking time off. The only time I won't go to work is if I know for a fact that I'll get someone else sick or I can't function."

Brown is typical of many Southern Nevadans who work when they are sick either because they feel obligated or need the money and do not receive paid time off.

With flu and cold season on the way -- January and February typically are the busiest months for doctors' offices and hospitals -- germs are sure to be passed around the workplace.

A recent national study by Office Team -- a California-based clerical and administrative assistant staffing firm with offices in Las Vegas -- found that 80 percent of the 594 office workers polled report to work when they are sick. By comparison, only 8 percent said they never come to work when they are sick.

Several other recent studies mirror those figures, and there is even a word for it: presenteeism, which is defined by economists as being physically but not mentally on the job.

Brown and his wife, Valetta, a clerical worker, visited a UMC Quick Care on Thursday for sore throats and congestion, but they planned to work later in the day.

Valetta Brown said she generally goes to work when she's sick.

"It seems like if you don't go to work -- they seem like they get upset," she said of her employer. "I'm real careful at work. If I use someone else's phone, I disinfect it right away, and I try not to talk real close to people."

She said she stays home when her asthma flares up and she cannot breathe, if she's running a fever or when one of her three young children is sick.

Scott Rogers, who visited the UMC Quick Care for chest congestion, said he often goes to work as a bartender at the Stratosphere when he's under the weather.

"In my business it's too hard to keep from getting sick," he said. "There's no way."

Rogers, who does not factor in lost wages when considering taking time off, said he uses hand sanitizer at work to try to minimize germ exposure.

Sandy Liechty, president-elect of the Southern Nevada Human Resources Association and vice president of group services of Custom Benefits Consultants, said large employers are more likely to offer sick days or paid time off -- a set number of days that can be taken for vacation, holidays, personal and sick time -- than small employers.

Employees often go to work because they fear they will be replaced if absent or they do not want to fall behind on job assignments, she said.

Employers also tend to look more at the consequences of missing work than the effect of having contagious employees at work, Liechty said.

Even many local doctors work when they are ill.

"If you stay home when you're sick, there's no one to see patients," said Dr. Michael Hutchins, medical director of three UMC Quick Care centers. "We're so short (of) physicians, it's hard to stay home."

He said patients do not always listen to physicians about staying home and resting.

"There are people who are very sick who have to work," he said.

Working while sick is similar to exercising while sick, Hutchins said.

"If your illness is above the neck, you can still exercise, (but) if you're coughing, wheezing or have tightness in the chest, you shouldn't exercise," he said, adding that the same rule applies to working.

Respiratory illnesses are commonly spread by coughing or by sharing drinks, he said. Most illnesses linger for three to five days in patients who do not have chronic conditions that slow the recovery process.

Health officials do not have steadfast rules for when people should stay home, but do have suggestions.

For example, casino workers who are exposed to tobacco smoke should stay home if they have a respiratory illness with coughing, wheezing or tightness, Hutchins said.

"They need to be in clean air," he said. "I don't care how good the (smoke-removal) systems are ... There's still tobacco in that air and you're getting exposed to it."

People taking cold medications that contain codeine or other drugs that can cause drowsiness should not drive or operate machinery, he said, adding that some cold medications do not cause sleepiness.

"As long as you're contagious, you shouldn't go to work," Clark County Health District senior epidemiologist Brian Labus said. "If you have a fever, that's a good indicator that you're sick and you're contagious.

"Normally you know when you have a cold, and if your body is telling you (that), you shouldn't be at work," he added.

Frequent hand washing is still the top recommendation to reduce the spread of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, he said.

"A lot of diseases ramp in the winter months," Labus said. "You have a lot more contact indoors."

When possible, health officials suggest, get plenty of rest and fluids to speed recovery and prevent dehydration.

Some patients, though, heed doctors' recommendations and stay home when they are sick.

Las Vegas resident Cynthia Barnes, who visited the UMC Quick Care on Thursday morning for a sinus infection, said she does not go to work when she's sick.

"I'm supposed to be at work right now," she said while waiting for the doctor. "I told my boss I'm not coming in today. I come first."

Barnes, a school transportation aide for children with special needs, said it is better to stay home when she is sick so she does not get worse and spread her illness to the children.

The 46-year-old said she is fortunate to have paid time off.

But "they just don't give you enough," she said.

Michelle Swafford can be reached at 259-2326 or at [email protected].

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