Don’t Lie to get a “Sick Day”

Survey after survey seems to confirm that a shocking number of employees lie in order to stay home from work for a “sick day”. There are good reasons why this trend needs to be reversed now.

Reaching back before the confusion of 2020-2022, the stats aren’t good. A survey in the USA in 2015 suggested that 57% had lied at some point to get a day off. In 2017, the claim was 40%. Typically, from a brief survey, it seems that between a third and a half of employees are ready to lie in order to skip work.

What are their real reasons why they skipped work? Some reasons include:

• A doctor’s appointment
• Just not feeling like going to work
• Wanting a “mental health day”
• Wanting to do errands or other personal work
• Wanting to catch up on sleep
• Hungover

You can judge the weight of each of these excuses, but they’re not just excuses not to work. Employees lied in order to skip work – and so they had to give employers a reason that they thought employers would find valid. So what were the lies they told in place of the reasons above?

• Generally not feeling well
• Migraine
• Food Poisoning
• Vomiting
• Stomach problems
• Diarrhea
• Flu

You’re already seeing the problem here. What happens when a huge number of people lie about having a migraine attack when they don’t? Well, the people who suffer from migraine – suffer!

How so? Well, employers are concerned about workers not being at work, and so they’re suspicious. One survey in the USA claimed that 80% of workers thought that their co-workers were lying when they called in sick. Looking at the stats, those people are significantly overestimating how many people are lying, but the perception can cause problems. (7% thought that their coworkers were always lying!)

Over a third of employers admit to checking up on someone when they claim to be sick, and almost a quarter have fired someone for using a fake excuse.

One survey found that migraine roused more suspicion than many other excuses. Employers were more likely to give employees the benefit of the doubt if they used the excuse of depression, anxiety, or the flu.

With tightening margins of profit, employers are bound to be more suspicious of employee absences. With “migraines” being a favourite lie, people who really cannot (or should not) work due to an actual migraine are going to suffer from the lie of another employee.

It is admittedly difficult for an employer to judge the state of your health. And there is still a lack of knowledge in many workplaces regarding the seriousness of migraine. Discussions need to take place, not only regarding migraine, but also mental illness and other possible reasons for absence. Flexibility will not necessarily mean less productivity or profits.

But lying is complicating the matter significantly. The more honest discussion that takes place, the more actual people can be helped with their actual problems, instead of the innocent suffering.

Just for fun…

And now – just for fun – a few of the craziest excuses (and these are much more likely to be true!) that people have used in order to get a sick day:

• My llama is sick.
• A bear was in my yard. (Proverbs 26:13 ?)
• I was bitten by a duck.
• Traumatic stress after finding a spider.
• The ozone in the air flattened my tires.
• I’m not sure how the solar eclipse will affect me.
• I was blocked by police raiding my home.
• I have better things to do. (!)
• My pressure cooker exploded and scared my sister.
• I was bowling the game of my life.

And one more thing – apparently, people in retail or leisure/tourist jobs are most likely to lie. Followed by people in recruitment and HR!

Least likely? Teachers, health/social care workers, and transport/logistics workers.

Resources:

This information was taken from a variety of sources, so here is some more information for you to check out:

• CareerBuilder’s Annual Study Reveals This Year’s Craziest Excuses for Calling in Sick
• It’s National Sickie Day – here are the best excuses for calling in sick (according to your boss)
• Increased Number of Workers Calling In Sick When They Aren’t, Finds CareerBuilder’s Annual Survey
• These are the sectors most likely to ‘pull a sickie’
• Sickness absence increases to 4.4 days per worker
• Sick day suspicion: 80% of people admit they assume colleagues are LYING when they say they’re too ill to come into work
• The Significant Sacrifices Migraine Sufferers Make