Sick Day Excuses

Employees are coming up with very creative ways to call in sick but more and more are being busted because of social media. CareerBuilder Executive Career Advisor Jennifer Grasz says the numbers have not changed much in the ten years they have been conducting this survey on sick day excuses. Nearly one in four employees faking a sick day out themselves on social media and 18% of employers say they’ve fired an employee for using a fake excuse to call in sick. Grasz says employers do check up on their employees, according to the latest survey. “31% said that they do check up on employees to make sure that they are telling the truth, whether that is requiring a doctor’s note or they other employees call that employee and some literally went that extra mile and drove past the employee’s home.” Grasz gives her favorite excuse from the recent survey. “This is actually one of my favorites, which is the employee woke up in a good mode and didn’t want to ruin it, that says a whole lot about his work environment and that is also a red flag for companies especially if they are seeing a high absentee rate, if people don’t want to come to work, there is something that needs to be fixed in that work environment.” Grasz says the concept of a sick day has evolved. She says many companies realize they need to help employees balance the time between work and home. To read the complete survey on sick day excuses, visit www.CareerBuilder.com.