As many as 75% of sick workers struggle into the office when they would be better off recovering at home, according to a poll by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

42% of those surveyed said they turned up for work despite being unwell, because they believed their colleagues depended on them and they had no wish to let them down. 16% said they went to work when ill because they would lose money if they didn’t.

The poll suggests that instead of being a nation of work-shy malingerers, the UK is a nation of workhorses who feel intimidated into going into the office when they should be in bed. Part of the blame, the TUC believes, should lie with cold remedy brands’ advertising campaigns which concentrate on the consequences of not turning up for work.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned that those dragging themselves into work when they were unwell were only exacerbating the problem by spreading viruses to the rest of the healthy working population.