A new CareerBuilder survey indicates that over the past year, 28% of employees have called in to work sick when they were feeling well.
While that’s down from 32% last year, asked for their reason(s):
- 30% just didn’t feel like going in to work
- 29% wanted the day to relax
- 19% wanted to catch up on their sleep
- 11% did so because of bad weather
On the other hand, 21% took the day off to attend a doctor’s appointment.
Even though half (49%) of employees say they have a paid time off program that allows them to use their time off however they choose, 23% of those workers say they still feel obligated to make up an excuse for taking a day off.
Most Unbelievable Excuses
But then, there are those who are (apparently) transparent about their reasons for wanting the day off – perhaps even a little too transparent? Among the most unbelievable excuses were these:
- Just put a casserole in the oven.
- Plastic surgery for enhancement purposes needed some "tweaking" to get it just right.
- Was sitting in the bathroom and her feet and legs fell asleep. When she stood, up she fell and broke her ankle.
- Had been at the casino all weekend and still had money left to play with on Monday morning.
- Woke up in a good mood and didn't want to ruin it.
- Had a “lucky night” and didn’t know where he was.
- Got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn't get out.
- Had a gall stone … that they wanted to heal holistically.
- Caught their uniform on fire … by putting it in the microwave to dry.
- Accidentally got on a plane.
Though the majority of employers give their employees the benefit of the doubt, 31% say they have checked to see if an employee was telling the truth in one way or another, everything from asking to see a doctor’s note (66%) to calling the employee (49%), and even driving past the employee’s house (15%). One in four employers (24%) have caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media. Of those, 22% actually fired the employee.
Of course, it’s not a one-way street. More than half of employees (53%) say they have gone into work when sick because they felt the work won’t get done otherwise, and nearly one-in-four (38%) did the same because they can’t afford to miss a day of pay.
