Nearly One-Third of Workers Called in Sick with Fake Excuses in the Last Year, CareerBuilder.com's Annual Survey Shows
November 07 2007 - 6:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
- Employers Share 12 Most Unusual Reasons Employees Gave to Explain
an Absence - CHICAGO, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Is the cough on the
other end of the line real? According to CareerBuilder.com's annual
survey on absenteeism at the office, 32 percent of workers said
they have called in sick when they were well at least once in the
last year. And while the majority of employers (75 percent) said
they typically believe excuses given by employees, 35 percent
reported they have checked up on an employee who called in sick and
16 percent said they have fired a worker for missing work without a
legitimate excuse. The survey included 5,989 workers and 2,929
hiring managers and human resource professionals. Twenty-seven
percent of workers said they consider their sick days to be
equivalent to vacation days and one-in-ten admitted to playing
hooky three times or more even though they were feeling well.
One-in-five workers (23 percent) said they took the day off simply
because they just didn't feel like going to work that day. Fifteen
percent missed work because they needed to relax, 11 percent had a
doctor's appointment, 9 percent wanted to catch up on sleep and
another 9 percent had plans with family and friends. More than half
(52 percent) of employers say Monday is the most popular day for
employee absenteeism, followed by Friday at 24 percent and Saturday
at 9 percent. Of the 35 percent of employers who checked up on an
employee who called in sick, 67 percent said they required the
employee to show them a doctor's note. Fifty-nine percent called
the employee at home, 16 percent had another worker call the
employee, and 14 percent drove by the employee's house or
apartment. While some employers are more skeptical of certain
absences, others are incorporating more flexibility into their sick
day programs. Sixty-nine percent of employers said they allow their
team members to use sick days for mental health days. "Employers
are placing a greater emphasis on work/life balance, offering more
opportunities for employees to recharge and return to the office
more productive," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human
Resources at CareerBuilder.com. "Your best bet is to be honest. If
you're a strong employee and you're truthful about the time you
need off, your employer is likely to give it to you. Lying about
it, on the other hand, can have a lasting, negative impact on your
credibility and job tenure." When asked to share the most unusual
excuses employees gave for missing work, employers offered the
following real-life examples: -- Employee said he was crabby --
Employee got whiplash from brushing her hair -- Employee said her
psychic told her to stay home or something awful would happen to
her -- Employee said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest up
for the company's holiday party that night -- Employee said her
chickens' feet were frozen to the driveway -- At her sister's
wedding, the employee chipped her tooth on a Mint Julep, bent over
to spit it out, hit her head on a keg and was knocked unconscious
with a mild concussion -- Employee claimed to have met a movie star
and was spending the day with him -- Employee was injured while
getting a haircut -- Employee tasted some dog food because the dog
was not feeling well and now the employee is sick -- Employee's
roommate locked all his clothes in a shed for spite -- A groundhog
bit the employee's car tire, causing it to go flat -- Employee had
been up all night because their favorite "American Idol" contestant
was voted off Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online
within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of
CareerBuilder.com among 2,929 hiring managers and human resource
professionals (employed full-time; not self-employed; with at least
significant involvement in hiring decisions); and 5,989 U.S.
employees (employed full-time; not self-employed), ages 18 and over
within U.S. between August 10 and September 4, 2007. Figures for
age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income
were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their
actual proportions in the population. The data have been weighted
to reflect the composition of U.S. employers, and propensity score
weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be
online. With a pure probability sample of 2,929 and 5,989, one
could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall
results have a sampling error of +/- 2% and +/- 1.3% percentage
points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is
higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of
error into account. This online survey is not based on a
probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can
be calculated. A full methodology is available upon request. About
CareerBuilder.com CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online
job site with more than 22 million unique visitors and over 1.5
million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune
Company (NYSE:TRB), The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft
Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), the company offers a vast online and print
network to help job seekers connect with employers.
CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,100
partners, including 150 newspapers and leading portals such as
America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage
of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 23 million-plus resumes,
Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries
operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information,
visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/. Media Contact: Jennifer Grasz
773-527-1164 DATASOURCE: CareerBuilder.com CONTACT: Jennifer Grasz
of CareerBuilder.com, +1-773-527-1164, Web site:
http://www.careerbuilder.com/
Copyright
Tribune (NYSE:TRB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Tribune (NYSE:TRB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024