Members of the media may be less susceptible to unwarranted absenteeism than many other industries, if for no other reason than the famous “the show must go on” ethic engrained in the workforce. But for your own edification and for possible on-air discussion material, here’s a look at the issue from CareerBuilder.
According to CareerBuilder’s latest study, almost a third of the US workforce called in sick when healthy during the past year, an increase of 2% over the prior year. Another relevant number: 30% of all employees have come to work when legitimately ill in order to save their sick days for use on a later date when they are of course not likely to be sick.
On the positive side, 20% of all employees have shown their dogged dedication to the job by calling in sick but still getting work done at home.
The leading reasons for taking a non-sick sick day:
33%: Just don’t feel like working
28%: Need to relax
24%: Scheduled doctor’s appointment
19%: Catch up on sleep
14%: Running personal errands
Source: CareerBuilder
Now for the fun part. Here are CareerBuilder’s most outrageous excuses for a sick day from the past year:
* Employee’s false teeth flew out the window while driving down the highway
* Employee’s favorite football team lost on Sunday so needed Monday to recover
* Employee was quitting smoking and was grouchy
* Employee said that someone glued her doors and windows shut so she couldn’t leave the house to come to work
* 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 received a threatening phone call from the electric company and needed 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
* Employee couldn’t decide what to wear
Source: CareerBuilder
