Food Workers Say They Work When Sick - But Why?

Would you work when you were sick? We’re speaking to the food professionals on this one. Because a new study suggests that a half of food workers would be willing to go to work knowing they were sick.

The report was published by Alchemy, a company that analyses the food industry to help improve safety and productivity.

Speaking to a mix of 1200 food workers, they found that 51 percent would either ‘always’ or ‘frequently’ go to work sick and 38 percent of those asked would go to work sick ‘sometimes’.

Those asked covered a cross-section of food workers, from those working in abbatoirs to delhi bars, restaurant kitchens to grocery stores. 

Of course, no one wants to know that the person making their food is carrying an illness but the question has to be why are so many willing to work when sick? 45 percent said they did it because they couldn’t afford to loose the pay - a problem that stems from many food workers not receiving any type of benefits and a further 46 percent said they just didn’t want to let their co-workers down. Just 5 percent said they would never go to work sick.

Letting co-workers down is also part of the culture of food work, especially in the kitchen where chefs rarely take days off. It’s an odd work culture that needs to change if we want the people making our food to do so in the best of health. After all, isn’t it their job to nurture us? Replenish us and give a piece of themselves in the food they create? Let’s not have that ‘piece’ be a dollop of Novovirus.

Via Eater