It’s worth remembering that, in 2016, UK workers took an average of 4.3 days off work due to illness – the lowest number since records began.

This is in stark contrast to the early Nineties: back in 1993, we took almost twice as many sick days a year, with the average number coming in at 7.2 days per employee, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Plus there’s no denying that we need time to recuperate, rest, and recover when we’re ill: after all, “we can only pull off a high-wire act for so long before gravity does its job.” not to mention the possibility of spreading an illness to others.

If you need any convincing to call in sick next time you’re feeling ill, have a read of Lucy Mangan’s column about sick days being the new “mini break” or take heed of Lena Dunham’s wise words.

As Mangan says, we “need to break this vicious cycle in which we have all become prepared to work until we drop – and then crawl on the floor to the office instead – and learn to put our health first.

“Employers need to accept that without this happening both we and they have nothing. And if we can’t do it? Well, a great sickness indeed infects us all.”

Images: iStock

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