It’s Monday morning, February 4th. Take a look around the office. Who’s there, ploughing through their inbox? And who’s missing, the only clue to their whereabouts a croaky voicemail or misspelt text?
Yes, National Sickie Day is with us once more, the day when staff are most likely to ‘throw a sickie’ due to a combination of post-Christmas blues, poor weather and a long wait for the summer holiday season – not helped by incessant TV advertising of holidays, beaches, villas and even suntan lotion. All against a background of torrential rain, gale force winds and a risk of flooding.
Surveys have suggested around 310,000 workers will take a “sickie” today, at an estimated cost of £27million to British industry …
Peter Mooney, a spokesman for personnel software Employersafe, which monitors staff absenteeism, says:
“It is a well-known fact in the business world that the first Monday of February is deemed the worst in terms of absenteeism. We now advise our clients to keep a particularly close eye on staff taking this day off.Although many people will be swinging the lead, employers must also acknowledge that many people are also off work with genuine ailments, such as colds and flu at the time of year.
That is why it is important to monitor staff absenteeism to work out who is genuine and who is faking it.”
Careers expert Judi James picks the top ten excuses for being off ‘sick’ ….
A cold
Ideal if done well, with groundwork in place.
Flu
If they really had flu, they wouldn’t be fit to phone you …
Achy breaky head
Opinion is still divided over whether a migraine is a valid excuse for staying off work.
Food poisoning
Ideal for the thrower of the sickie (no pun intended) but a hard one for employers. Could be real, could be fake …
Sick children
Does the voice on the phone really have kids? Are you sure?
A family funeral
It may seem in poor taste but people do invent family deaths in order to spend a day on the sofa watching Jerry Springer.
Waiting in
That gas man, metre reader, estate agent, plumber has a lot to answer for.
I’m stuck on the train, bus, Tube ….
The wrong kind of snow – again …
Topical tropics
Delhi belly – always good for a couple of days of unwinding after the hell that is Heathrow.
Wrong day
Never fall for this one. In these days of TV, radio, computer, mobile phone, BlackBerry and so on, you’d need to be on a desert island not to know what day it is.
A 2006 survey of more than 4,000 full-time employees for Sky Travel found that seven people in 10 would choose a Monday for a sneaky day off and that most opted for the first Monday in February. And bosses in the North apparently have the most reason to fear absenteeism in the dreary winter months. Liverpool was top of the poll. Workers there admitted taking up to 13 unofficial days off a year, compared with three days in London …
