雇主应该加强对雇员心理健康的关注
While more than half of bosses are skeptical of employees who phone in sick, a new study has revealed what is most likely to earn you the day in bed - and it's not having the cough.
Taking a break from vomiting(呕吐) to call your boss will get the most amount of sympathy with nearly three quarters of interviewees saying this would be reason enough to stay at home. The latest survey, which interviewed 2,500 employers and employees across the UK, named diarrhoea(腹泻) the second most worthy excuse with 71 percent of people admitting they wouldn't want to go too far from their toilet when struck down with the diarrhoea.
The research, conducted by UK healthcare provider Benenden, is just the latest to look at the nation's best (and worst) reasons for calling in sick—and the ones most likely to be believed by employers and your colleagues.
But despite continuous advocacy efforts, workers who give reasons like stress or mental health issues acquire much less sympathy and are much less likely to be believed.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that employers were more likely to accept back pain as a reason for not coming into work than stress or mental health.
“There is a strong commercial case for having a healthy and engaged workforce, yet employers are obviously ignoring the impact of an employee’ s physical and mental well-being on productivity, absenteeism and length of service,” Inci Duducu, director of healthcare provider Benenden, which conducted the latest study told The Independent.
According to research by healthcare company AXA PPP, two-thirds of employers don’t believe that suffering from stress, anxiety or depression is a serious enough reason for employees to be off work, despite it affecting one in four people on average every year.
And as the days grow shorter and the mornings colder and darker, the risk of suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) will only increase.
“Many people don’t consider SAD to be a real form of depression due to its seasonal nature. But the feelings that people experience are very real and just as severe as other types of depression. SAD presents most commonly in women and occurs from October through to January,” said Dr Mark Winwood, AXA PPP healthcare’s Director of Psychological Services.
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1.Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A Three fourths of employees asked for leave because of diarrhoea.
B Employers prefer to offer much more sympathy to the vomiting workers.
C One fourth of the people in the world suffered from stress, anxiety or depression.
D SAD doesn’t belong to a real form of depression because of its seasonal nature.
解析：选B。细节理解题。根据文章第二段Taking a break from vomiting to call your boss will get the most amount of sympathy with nearly three quarters of respondents saying this would be reason enough to stay home.可知，吐完休息一下给老板打电话请假会得到最大的同情，这个理由足以请假在家，故选B。
2.In the sixth paragraph, the underlined word “absenteeism” may mean______.
A non-attendance
B resignation
C carelessness
D appearance
解析：选A。词义猜测题。纵观全文，作者先根据调查，列举了员工请假的多项理由。接着在第六段引出新调查：员工的身体和心理健康对生产力、缺勤率和服务年限长短产生的影响。另外，该词的词根absent意思为“缺席，旷工”，故选A。
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A Having a cough makes you easy obtain a day off from the employers.
B It is common that men never suffer from SAD from October through to January.
C Diarrhoea will get the most amount of sympathy from the employers.
D Few employees would say they called in sick because of mental health.
解析：选D。推理判断题。根据文章四，五段的介绍：尽管舆论一直呼吁关注压力和心理健康，但把压力问题或者心理健康问题当成是请假的理由，不仅获得的同情较少，而且被相信的可能性也较低。今年早些时候的调查显示，比起压力大或者其他心理健康问题，雇主更能接受腰酸背痛这一病假理由。由此推断，很少的员工会以心理健康问题为理由来请假，故选D。
4.What is the purpose of the author writing such an article?
A Employees should have the best reasons for calling in sick.
B Bosses are advocated to pay more attention to the workers’ mental health.
C Employees should be honest with their line manager when asking for leave.
D SAD is supposed to be offered the most amount of sympathy.
解析：选B。推理判断题。从文中几项最好、最差的和最能让你老板和同事相信的病假理由的调查可知，雇主都在回避员工的心理健康问题。但从第六段可知，拥有一支勤奋健康的劳动力队伍是商业的重要课题，雇主不能忽视了员工的身体和心理健康对生产力、缺勤率和服务年限长短的影响。由此推测，作者撰写此文的目的是：呼吁雇主关注员工压力和心理健康问题，故选B。