Managers of small firms who encourage their staff to come in when their ill could be making a rod for their own back, it has been claimed.

New research carried out by TNS shows that 67 per cent of workers struggle into the office when they are ill as they are worried about what their managers or colleagues would think if they took time off.

And 54 per cent think that if they stay way from work when they are ill, they could be damaging their prospects for promotion, while 73 per cent say they are too busy to take sick leave.

Gemma Camp, head of stakeholder management for TNS, warned that fostering such a working culture is bad for staff.

She said: "If staff are so concerned about what their boss might think that they don't dare to take time off when they're sick, they risk their and their colleagues' physical health, and their own mental health."

Last month, a report by the work and pensions select committee stated that adopting European-style policies on sickness might help people return to work if they have been absent for a long period of time.

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