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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique

DARK SECRETS: Presenteeism what s causing britain s working while sick epidemic - The Real Truth

Woman with allergies sneezing into tissue in office
The cost of presenteeism – detrimentally working through sickness – grew by £25bn in the UK last year compared with 2018. Photograph: Django/Getty Images

For a nation that Rishi Sunak has accused of having a “sicknote culture”, and one previously derided by Conservative ministers as being filled with shirkers, Britons really do go into work a lot when under the weather.

Forget the stereotype of the sickie taken to sit in front of the TV or enjoy the sun, the much more accurate tableau is that of someone sneezing and coughing in the workplace.

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