March 31, 2010

To pull a sickie or not pull a sickie – that is the question

by Jan Harris

It seems that UK workers are either dragging themselves into work when they should be in bed, or staying in bed when they should be at work.

According to survey conducted by hygiene firm SCA, 19% of workers are too scared to phone in sick, even when they are genuinely ill.

Some people were worried that they might be seen as disloyal if they rang in sick, while others were worried that work would pile up while they were away.

One the other hand, a survey by jobs website CareerBuilder found that last year 26% of UK workers called in sick just because they fancied a day off, on at least one occasion during the year.

The excuses given for not being able to go to work included: “my toenails are too long for shoes and I couldn’t find a clipper”, “my body needs to adjust to the climate change”, and “my bed broke and I’m trapped under it”.

The CareBuilder survey also discovered that 29% of employers had fired an employee for missing work without a genuine reason.

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Story link: To pull a sickie or not pull a sickie – that is the question

To pull a sickie or not pull a sickie – that is the question

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