What are the implications of ‘pulling a sickie’

29th March 2023

56% of UK adults have "pulled a sickie" at least once in the past year just to enjoy a day off work

(Business Leader, Feb 7th 2023)

Bad hangover from the night before?

Woke up and decided you’re not in the mood to work today?

Your favourite footie team is playing and you don’t want to miss the match?

There’s many reasons why people choose to decide to ‘pull a sickie’ when they actually aren’t sick, but what are the consequences?

Fake illness costs UK businesses 5.6bn a year

Source: realbusiness.co.uk, Feb 2020

What are the implications to you?

Calling in sick when you’re not sick usually results in you not getting paid! And is a un-needed day off worth losing out on a day’s pay?

Especially if you’re a serial ‘sickie puller’, if you add up all of the missed hours of work, how much is this amounting to?

Pulling too many ‘sickies’ can also result in you becoming increasingly unreliable to your employer, which can lead to:

  • Not being considered to do extra shifts/overtime when you need the extra money
  • Not being trusted to take on more responsibility at work
  • Losing out on opportunities for a promotion
  • Not receiving a salary increase
  • An employer refusing to give you a reference if you moved jobs 
  • Losing your job completely

Remember, employers aren’t stupid. And if the sun is shining or the World Cup is on for example, they are probably expecting people to call up sick.

Plus, this is also going to affect the days when you actually are sick and it’s less likely to come across as genuine to your employer.

In a poll taken by ITV in 2014 found that colds, flu, and food poisoning were the most popular excuses given for pulling a sickie. Of those interviewed, 46% stated that ‘feeling tired’ and 40% stated that ‘they just didn’t feel like it’ was the real reason for not going into work (Actional Mental Health, 2023).

CareerBuilder conducted a survey to HR Professionals and Hiring Managers, and found that:

33% said they have checked to see if an employee was telling the truth
22% of those surveyed said they have fired an employee once discovering they had lied and given a fake excuse
More than one-third of employees have been busted because they posted something on social media that gave away that they weren’t ill
Of the employers who have used social media to catch someone faking an illness, 27% of the bosses have fired those employees
Did you know we even have a day dedicated to it?

The first Monday of February is the most popular day for people to call in sick – now known as ‘National Sickie Day’!

On the first Monday in February in 2022, there were around 350,000 absences!! (awarenessdays.com, 2023)

In 2020, around 600,000 workers called in sick, costing the British economy close to 45 million pounds!! (nationaltoday.com, 2023)

 

It has been suggested that the surge in absences could you due to a number of factors including:

  • The end of Jan is the first payday since Christmas for most people so people may have had a ‘heavy weekend out’ 
  • January is a very popular time of year for people to look for another career path, so people have theorised that people are claiming to be sick to attend job interviews 
  • Some people believe it could also be due to a combination of post-holiday blues and gloomy weather 

Searches on Google for ‘reasons to call in sick at work’ increased by 54% during the 2018 England v Belgium World Cup match (smallbusiness.co.uk)

One in five people admitted they would take time off work to watch a sports event (trainingjournal.com)

Absences spiked by 33% after the last day of the Premier League 2021 (edays.co.uk)

During the 2018 World Cup, a research study found that one in ten people were planning to pull a sickie if England beat Colombia (smallbusiness.co.uk)

If you are looking for support to help to cover absences in your workforce, please contact us to discuss how we can be on hand to provide support for last minute backfills.

Please add your details into this form and a Consultant from your local Essential branch will be in touch to discuss.