Male Workers Twice As Likely to Fake Being Sick to Their Employers; About 30% of Low Income Workers Lack Health Insurance; Older Workers Most Likely To be Insured
11th Annual “Attitudes in the American Workplace” Poll by Harris for The Marlin Company
(PRWEB) September 28, 2005
North Haven, CT, (PRWEB) September 28, 2005 – A new national survey has found that men are nearly twice as likely than women to call in sick when they are just fine.
The national workplace survey also found that America is divided when it comes to health insurance. While 31% of low-income adult workers (less than $20,000) lack health insurance, 99% with yearly incomes of $75,000 or more are covered.
The survey conducted by Harris Interactive® for The Marlin Company, the workplace communication experts, found that nearly 20% of adult workers with health insurance say they would do without the insurance if they suddenly lost coverage.
These are some of the results of The Marlin Company’s 11th Annual “Attitudes in the American Workplace” survey of 757 U. S. workers 18 and older. The survey was conducted in May and June 2005 with a sampling error for the overall results of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
“Surprisingly, the survey found that in the past year, men are more likely to have called in sick when they were not,” said Frank Kenna III, president of The Marlin Company, which improves employee morale, performance and productivity through innovative communication programs that reach all employees. “Overall, nearly one in four workers has faked a sick day in the past year. U. S. workers with children under 18 were no more likely to take a fabricated sick day than other workers.”
“The survey’s findings on health insurance show that America is a nation of unequal health protection. Those with the lowest incomes in our society and the least likely to afford health care are the most likely to go without health coverage. On the other hand, workers with higher incomes who are most able to pay for medical care are the most likely to be covered,” said Kenna
“For all our rhetoric about healthcare as a right, we are far away from serving the needs of all American workers,” said Kenna.
“The survey suggests that we may be seeing a return to the 1989 to 1993 period when inflation was rampant and our most vulnerable workers were the least protected,” said Dr. Theodore R. Marmor, professor of public policy and management at the Yale School of Management and author of The Politics of Medicare. “Despite all the lip service given to the need for affordable healthcare, little has seemed to change in the last 15-plus years.”
Older US workers are more likely than younger workers to have health insurance. While 93% of US workers age 50 or older have health insurance, only 83% of workers age 18 to 34 are covered
The majority of US workers with health insurance say their health insurance costs are too high with older workers more likely than other age groups to find their health insurance costs too high. Health insurance companies and the US government are the most likely to be blamed for the high costs.
About The Marlin Company
For more than 90 years, The Marlin Company has been the Workplace Communication Experts™ helping companies improve employee morale, productivity and performance through the innovative use of original, visually engaging content that is displayed in Communication Stations that can be managed through print or Internet distribution. Its stations, which contain content customized by industry, are helping more than 8,000 companies of all sizes improve workplace attitudes and behavior. Through its many years of experience, The Marlin Company has developed a strong database of, and experience in, issues affecting the workplace. It routinely surveys thousands of clients to determine their current issues, works with industry experts across North America, and conducts national polling. Since 1995, it has conducted its annual "Attitudes in the American Workplace" Labor Day poll. In the early years, the Gallup Organization conducted the polling. Harris Interactive has done so since 2001. For more information, please see www. themarlincompany. com
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