Oct. 15--Calling in sick -- even though you're not -- has become increasingly popular, according to a new survey.
Despite feeling fine, 38 percent of employees have called in sick to work in the past year, up from 28 percent a year ago, CareerBuilder found in its annual survey of sick day excuses.
Some of the excuses are relatively honest: Of the employees who have called in sick when feeling well, many said they had a doctor's appointment or they just didn't feel like working that day. Others claimed they needed to relax or catch up on sleep. Some blamed bad weather.
But then there's the far more interesting reasons some employees gave, including "my grandmother poisoned me with ham," "I'm stuck under the bed," "I broke my arm reaching to grab a falling sandwich," "the universe said I need a day off," "I poked myself in the eye while combing my hair," and "my cat is stuck inside the dashboard of my car."
December is the most popular month for people to call in sick, although only 9 percent said they've ever faked being sick during the holidays. The blustery cold months of January and February generate a fair number of sick -- or "sick" -- days, the survey found.
Of the 52 percent of employees who have a program at work that allows them to use their paid time off however they chose, 27 percent said they still feel obligated to make up an excuse for taking a day off, compared with 23 percent last year.
And then there are the genuinely sick employees who feel they can't afford to use a sick day and go to work to spread the germs. More than half of employees said they have gone to work sick because they thought the work wouldn't get done if they didn't show up. Nearly half said they couldn't afford to miss a day of pay, up from 38 percent last year. Millennials were the most fearful of missing a day of pay.
The national survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from Aug. 12 to Sept. 2 and included a representative sample of 3,321 full-time workers, 2,326 hiring managers and human resource managers across various industries and company sizes.
The survey didn't ask how many called in sick to go to a Cubs game.
crshropshire@tribpub.com
