The truth about calling in sick

Readers explain the pressure they feel to go to work even when they're ill.

You've woken up feeling terrible: aching limbs, nausea, a killer headache.

You have a decision to make.

Should you push through the pain and drag your sorry self into work, even if you're on death's door?

Or are you more likely to pull the blankets back over your head and call in sick?

While common sense says that downtime will aid your recovery, the question of whether to take a sick day - or be stoic - might not be as straightforward as you'd like.

A demanding boss, job insecurity, workaholic tendencies or peer pressure from colleagues might all factor into the decision of whether to haul yourself out of bed - even if you feel rotten.

You may also feel the need to go into the office when ill to actually prove you're not faking it, like a kind of sickly show and tell, before you feel justified slinking off home.

Indeed, studies such as this one and this one, indicate you're not alone.

And, with the option to work remotely in these tech-driven times, is there any reason to not be pulling your weight, no matter how ill you are?

Following on from a recent story about the psychology behind why we work when ill, we posed the question to you, our readers on the BBC Capital Facebook page, asking, "have you ever felt pressured to go to work sick?"

Your responses are enlightening and answer that question with an overwhelming "yes". But why?

They're watching you

For starters, the human resources machine at some companies keep a close count of days workers spend away from the office.

That's certainly the case for John Stokes, "Every time I claim sick leave, the payroll programme pops up with a stern warning about my "absenteeism rate".

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