CHICAGO and ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
While calling in sick, when you are feeling just fine, is not a new
phenomenon in the office, slightly less workers say they have done
it over the last 12 months, according to a new CareerBuilder
survey. Slightly more than a third of workers (35 percent) said
they have called in to work sick when they were feeling just fine,
down from 38 percent last year.
More than 3,100 full-time workers and more than 2,500 full-time
hiring and human resource managers (of which 2,379 are in the
private sector) across industries participated in the nationwide
survey, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder
from August 11 to September 7,
2016.
When asked why they called in sick when they were feeling well,
28 percent said they just didn't feel like going in to work and 27
percent took the day off to attend a doctor's appointment. Another
24 percent said they needed to just relax and 18 percent needed to
catch up on sleep. Meanwhile, 11 percent took the day off to run
personal errands.
The Craziest Excuses for Calling in Sick
When asked to share the most dubious excuses employees have
given for calling in sick, employers reported hearing the following
real-life examples:
- Employee said the ozone in the air flattened his tires.
- Employee's pressure cooker had exploded and scared her sister,
so she had to stay home.
- Employee had to attend the funeral of his wife's cousin's pet
because he was an uncle and pallbearer.
- Employee was blocked in by police raiding her home.
- Employee had to testify against a drug dealer and the dealer's
friend mugged him.
- Employee said her roots were showing and she had to keep her
hair appointment because she looked like a mess.
- Employee ate cat food instead of tuna and was deathly ill.
- Employee said she wasn't sick but her llama was.
- Employee had used a hair remover under her arms and had
chemical burns as a result. She couldn't put her arms down by her
sides due to that.
- Employee was bowling the game of his life and couldn't make it
to work.
- Employee was experiencing traumatic stress from a large spider
found in her home. She had to stay home to deal with the
spider.
- Employee said he had better things to do.
- Employee ate too much birthday cake.
- Employee was bit by a duck.
Caught in the Act
Though the majority of employers (67 percent) give their
employees the benefit of the doubt, 33 percent say they have
checked to see if an employee was telling the truth in one way or
another, on par with last year. Among employers who have checked up
on an employee who called in sick, asking to see a doctor's note
was the most popular way to find out if the absence was legit (68
percent), followed by calling the employee (43 percent). As many as
18 percent of employers went the extra mile and drove past the
employee's house.
More than 1 in 5 employers (22 percent) say they have fired an
employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse, on par with last
year.
Be Careful What You Post
Some workers have inadvertently busted themselves online. More
than a third of employers (34 percent) have caught an employee
lying about being sick by checking social media. Of those, 27
percent have actually fired the employee, but 55 percent were more
forgiving, only reprimanding the employee for the lie.
Not a Day to Waste
Not every employee feels like they can afford to take some time
off, however. Nearly half of employees (47 percent) said they come
into work when they're sick because they can't afford to miss a day
of pay, and 60 percent come in because they're worried the work
won't get done otherwise (both more common for women than men, 50
percent of women and 43 percent of men; and 62 percent of women and
57 percent of men, respectively). Further, 16 percent of employees
said that while they have called in sick in the last year, they've
had to work from home for at least part of the day, if not the
whole day, while ill.
More than half of employees (53 percent) say they their company
has PTO programs where sick days, vacation days and personal days
are all lumped together, so employees can use their time off
however they choose. Still, of employees who say that their company
has those types of programs, more than a quarter (28 percent) still
feel obligated to make up an excuse to take a day off. And,
overall, 25 percent of employees said they never log every day they
take off.
Tis the Season
According to employers, employees most often call in sick during
the month of December (21 percent) followed by July (16 percent)
and January (14 percent). The most popular day of the week to call
in sick is Monday (48 percent) followed by Friday (26 percent).
Despite higher absentee rates during the holiday season, only 8
percent of employees say they have ever faked being sick during
this time. Of those who have, most did it to spend time with family
and friends (76 percent), while others wanted to holiday shop (12
percent) or decorate for the season (9 percent).
Survey Methodology
These surveys were conducted online within the U.S. by Harris
Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,587 hiring and human
resource managers ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not
self-employed; including 2,379 in the private sector) and 3,133
employees ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed,
non-government) between August 11 and
September 7, 2016. Percentages for some questions are based
on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions. With
pure probability samples of 2,587 and 3,133, one could say with a
95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling
errors of +/- 1.93 and +/- 1.75 percentage points, respectively.
Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and
varies.
About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the only end-to-end human capital management
company covering the entire candidate lifecycle and employee
lifecycle for businesses. As the global leader in its industry,
CareerBuilder specializes in cutting-edge HR software as a service
to help companies with every step of talent acquisition and
management. CareerBuilder works with top employers across
industries, providing solutions for talent and labor market
analytics, job distribution, candidate sourcing, tracking,
onboarding, HRIS, benefits administration and compliance. It
also operates leading job sites around the world. Owned by TEGNA
Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and McClatchy
(NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in
the United States, Europe, South
America, Canada and
Asia. For more information, visit
www.careerbuilder.com.
Media Contact
Ladan
Nikravan
312.698.0538 x70538
ladan.nikravan@careerbuilder.com
http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR
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SOURCE CareerBuilder