A third of U.S. workers use fake sick days

However, 30% of employees have gone to work despite actually being sick in order to save their sick days for when they’re feeling well. And in the past year, 20% of workers have called in sick but still ended up doing work from home throughout the day.

Thirty percent of employers have checked in on employees who have called in sick to make sure the excuse was legitimate, according to the study. Of those who verified employees’ excuses over the past year, 64% required a doctor’s note, 48% called the employee, 19% checked the employee’s social media posts, 17% had another employee call the sick employee, and 15% drove past the employee’s house.

While some employers may be flexible with how workers use their sick days, 16% have fired employees for calling in sick with a fake excuse.

Apart from actual illness, the most common reason employees take sick days is because they just don’t feel like going to work (33%), or because they needed to relax (28%). Others spend their sick days going to the doctor (24%), catching up on sleep (19%) or running personal errands (14%).

When asked to share the most memorable excuses for workplace absences that they’ve heard, employers reported the following real-life examples:

• employee’s false teeth flew out the window while driving down the highway;
• employee’s favorite football team lost on Sunday so they needed Monday to recover;
• employee was quitting smoking and was grouchy;
• employee said someone glued her doors and windows shut so she couldn’t leave the house;
• employee bit her tongue and couldn’t talk;
• employee claimed a swarm of bees surrounded his vehicle and he couldn’t make it in;
• employee said the chemical in turkey made him fall asleep and he missed his shift;
• employee felt like he was so angry, he was going to hurt someone if he came in;
• employee got a threatening phone call from the electric company and had to report it to the FBI;
• employee needed to finish Christmas shopping;
• employee’s fake eye was falling out of its socket;
• employee got lost and ended up in another state; and
• employee couldn’t decide what to wear.

The survey polled 3,484 workers as well as 2,099 hiring managers and HR professionals.

Related articles:

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• Changing demographics leads to more absenteeism
• Ottawa urged to crack down on sick-leave abuse