Fifty percent of U.S. workers are worried that taking time off to go to preventive care appointments could hurt their chances of securing a promotion, according to a recent survey. And this is no better in the healthcare industry, where only a third of healthcare workers witness their bosses leaving work for such appointments.
Tapping more than 2,000 employed American adults, the survey was conducted by Zocdoc, which is calling today for companies to offer employees an Unsick Day. This will give workers time to go to an annual checkup or a dental cleaning. The online medical care scheduling service is joined by companies such as Virgin Hotels, Oscar and Foursquare, which will announce thousands of “unsick days” for their employees in 2017, according to an announcement.
As troubling as the survey statistics are, here’s some good news: More than half of the respondents report that they would go to preventive care appointments, if they were motivated to do so by their team or their employer. And employers focused on workforce retention should take note of this fact: Nearly half of U.S. workers are likely to choose or remain with a company that provides time off for yearly checkups.
Additional findings from the survey include:
- Forty percent of respondents say they haven’t missed a single day of work for a preventive care appointment.
- Eighty-six percent would cancel or push out a scheduled appointment because of pressures in the workplace.
- Millennials are 30 percent more likely to be uncomfortable with the idea of leaving work for a checkup--that’s compared to their colleagues who are 35 and older.