Why ‘I’m sick’ is often a lie
July 21, 2008 by Charlie WalkerPosted in: In this week's e-Newsletter, Latest News & Views, Procurement trends
Here’s a shocker: A new study from the Workforce Institute says that 39% of full-time workers called in sick when they were actually enjoying a day off! They even have a name for it: Seasonal Absence Syndrome, since it’s more common during the summer.
There are a variety of rationalizations staffers make in doing this:
- needed to take a mental health day
- my workload is so heavy that if there’s even a moment of relief, I take it
- the weather was beautiful
- my weekend wasn’t long enough, so I needed to take Friday/Monday off.
This can be a morale bruiser and production crusher in many Purchasing and Procurement operations, where it’s already a challenge to keep up. Experts point out that there’s a ripple effect when this kind of absence occurs:
First, the employees who are “left behind” still must accomplish the same volume of work.
Second, if left unaddressed by supervisors, “seasonal absences” can spread through your department faster than a hungry mosquito. Workers will see their colleagues abusing the system, and are likely to follow suit.
One solution: Some workplaces plan “Summer Fridays” and encourage staffers to schedule half or a full days off, planned in advance.
Also, if you suspect sick time abuse, you can always request more tangible evidence — like a note from the staffer’s doctor or similar medical professional.
Tags: absence, procurement, purchasing, summer
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Duh, you guys definately have a grasp on the obvious. Whomever wrote this piece must have spent 5 whole minutes spewing this centuries old information, and advice to managers to ask for a Doctor’s note, before going home sick to catch up on the soaps. What a news flash.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
wow, this is really an unhealthy article,… very ‘old school’ view of employees. First, it never addresses the root of the issues, why does your employee feel the need to escape their work environment.
Next if your team is forced to pick up the slack every time one person is missing, then you have NO slack in your team and they either have an unsustainable workload or some other hurdles preventing them to be more efficient, … which is most likely why they feel they need to take ‘sick’ days to begin with.
Finally stricter enforcement and new control policies should always be the last step as it will exacerbate your current moral problem.
Instead try getting to the source of you problem. If you employees feel like inmates, chances are they will be looking to ‘jump the wall’ given any opportunity.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Why not go to personal days and eliminate the vacation – sick days? Employees feel it’s fairer and it eliminates the doctor’s excuses, and the unspoken resentment toward those who treat sick days as vacation due them. People notice those who “always” use their sick days.
Consider letting employees “bank” up to five days a year for extended illnesses, childcare, extended vacations, etc. Ask everyone to try and schedule their personal days – if someone has a lot of unscheduled days, follow-up on an individual basis. If a department has a lot of unscheduled personal days, find out why. It could be leadership, environment or a combination of issues.
One of the business realities these days is doing more with less. If that effort is approached as a partnership, significant continued improvement is possible. Good places to work must make money to be good places to work – and the quest for profitability never ends. Both the “worker as an input” and ‘the exploited, unheard employee” models are dated. Good businesses have adults with differing roles all taking shared responsibility for their mutual economic fortunes and a satisfying return for shareholders/owners. Unless that reality is understood and embraced, superior results cannot be achieved. All employees are in it together – whether they like it or not.