British workforce still guilty of trying to pull a ‘sickie’

Excuses, excuses. When it comes to calling in sick to work, employees get creative.

Bosses have been told: “I have blisters from wearing new shoes on Saturday night”, “I’m having a BBQ at the weekend and need time to prepare” and “I lost a darts tournament last night and I am too traumatised to come in”.

These are just a few of the worst excuses for pulling a sickie, according to a study of 1,300 workers across the UK.

Over half (52.5 per cent) of UK employees feel guilty about taking a sickie, with the majority saying it’s because they are leaving their team in the lurch.

That’s according to CV-Library, the UK’s leading independentjob board, which found that women feel most guilty about sick leave (60.5 per cent).

A further 24.1 per cent of professionals felt taking sick days reflected badly on them, while 13.2 per cent believe it is fr owned upon in the workplace.

Despite these concerns ,86.1 per cent said their boss understands when they need to take a sick day.

“In today’ s working world it’ s clear that professionals are still taking unnecessary sick days, giving a whole host of excuses,” says Lee Biggins of CV-Library.

The top reason for workers calling in ‘sick’ was because they were too tired (43.4 per cent), with this figure rising to 48.4 per cent amongst 1824 year olds and 65.2 per cent amongst 55-64 year olds. In addition, 15.1 per cent said they simply couldn’t be bothered.

Unsurprisingly, only one in 10 (9.2 per cent) said it was because they had a hangover.

Finally, the worst excuses that people have given for not turning up to work:

“I have blisters from wearing new shoes on Saturday night”.

“I’ve got a terrible migraine (also known as a hideous hangover)”. 3“My hamster is sick and needs

to go to the vet”. “I left my uniform on the bus ”. “I lost a darts tournament last night and I am too traumatised to come in”.

“A tree has fallen down onto my property and it needs to be cleared/made safe”. 7“My boyfriend changed his relationship

status on Facebook

to single”. “There are cows in my garden so I can’t get to work”. “I didn’ t get to bed until late so I’m too tired to come in”. “I’m having a BBQ at the weekend and need some time to prepare”.