By The Editor
A majority of respondents to a new poll admit they’ve taken a sick day from work just to have a day off, with many believing it necessary to maintain their mental health.
A study for consultancy SHL found 63 per cent of all workers had “chucked a sickie” at some stage in their careers, but more interesting than this statistic is the reason why these workers used a sick day when they weren’t sick.
A third of them said they simply needed to take a day off to avoid exhaustion, anxiety and stress, or because they were feeling burnt out.
More than a quarter cited personal responsibilities (such as family emergencies and caring for children) as the reason, while nearly a quarter said they just wanted to avoid another day with the boss, and only 12 per cent admitted their real reason for skipping work is because they wanted to do something else like go to the beach.
SHL’s Stephanie Christopher said the findings related to anxiety and burnout often directly related to the relationship they had with their boss – those with positive relationships were less likely to use a sickie because they were more likely to feel guilty about it.
It all enhances the theory of employee engagement being the main reason for the results of a myriad of workplace statistics, including productivity and absenteeism.
Bosses who effectively engage employees are more likely to have an open line of communication with their workers, and deal with issues of anxiety and burnout.
How do you deal with employees who are dealing with burnout? We’re interested in your views.
[...] to the VECCI blog, this is very much a management issue. It quotes SHL’s Stephanie Christopher saying that these [...]
“Chucking a sickie” because of exhaustion.. thats what your weekend is for.
But citing “family emergencies and caring for children” … exactly how old is this survey?? Our Award has carer days in it which allow my workers to take a carer day for their immediate family. I would have presumes that Miss Gillards Fair work structure allowed the same for everyone!!
I have no problem with this as it allows at least some honesty from the worker. So instead of telling me they are sick. They tell me their child is sick and to take the day to care for them. That then gets deducted from their total “sick day” allowance but noted as a carer day.
Allows for honest instead of dishonesty
I have long been an advocate that senior officers should not have a 9 day fortnight or any other form of regular rostered day off. In exchange for cutting this priviledge from their packages, I am a strong advocate for the principle of “executive time off” at the discretion of the senior officer and perhaps the CEO. Provided that the job is getting done and all the boxes have been ticked, senior officers should be encouraged to exercise their good jusgement and take executive time off when they need a break. Accordingly, I have no problems with other staff “chucking a sickie” for similar reasons as one might have for taking executive time off as long as they take a responsible attitude to it and make sure the job is done and all the boxes get ticked on time and within budget. I remember working for a boss who used to say to me, “I sdon’t care where you are as long as I can contact you on the mobile if I need to – take some time for yourself whern you can!”. It worked really well. Mind you it was not uncommon for me to work through to 4.00am over several nights in a row to get the preparation for the next Commission apprarance done in time.
Unfortunately once this level of burn-out has been reached most people have ceased to care about their jobs and realise that they are expendable and that their health is only precious to themselves. A lot of bosses at the coal-face are under pressure themselves to keep the wheels turning and to view their employees as robots rather than people with a whole range of external influences on their time and problems to cope with that have nothing to do with their jobs. I find it is the layer of management that is cut off from the day to day activities of their employees that make it hard for employees and middle management to take care of themselves and taking a sick day because you are burnt out or looking after a sick dependant at home is not a “Sickie” slacking off and going to the beach is and there are not many people who do that. So perpetuating the myth of the aussie sickie is not only counterproductive it gives a false picture of the depressive states of some workplaces where more and more productivity is being demanded from less and less workers all in the name of “profit”.
Kind of seems like a stupid sort of attitude to have towards the end of the business that actually provides that profit making drive for the business.