The Good, the Bad & the Downright Funny: Excuses for Sick Days

This years ‘National Sickie Day’ on 1st February came and went, and many an HR Manager was left rolling from some of the excuses they heard.

However, according to absence management expert Adrian Lewis, of Activ Absence, National Sickie Day is only one of many days where businesses see a sudden soar in ‘sickness’.

Adrian says: “It’s funny the trends you see when you start to record and monitor sickness trends and patterns.  For example, it’s far more common for employees to take a ‘sickie’ on a Monday or a Friday – and once HR have seen that for themselves, our ‘Days of the Week’ sickness trends report is one that our customers run most often!”

“Absence always spikes on the hottest day of the year, the Tuesday after a Bank Holiday and in between Christmas and New Year.  Then you will also see regional variances during sporting fixtures – for example, in England, it tends to be during a weekday football fixture – in Wales and Ireland, its the day after the Rugby!  These are definitely not good days to take a sickie – HR Managers are always going to view these sick days with a lot of suspicion.”

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