Why everyone’s talking about... duvet days

FEW workers are strangers to the art of pulling a sickie. But could we ever skive off without the guilt?

If you pick the right employer, you can. Firms are increasingly offering workers an allocation of ‘duvet days’ they can take off for any reason, or none. It’s been named a top job perk of 2021, alongside ‘pawternity leave’ to look after your dog. A trawl of online job ads reveals scores offering duvet days – or ‘self-care’ days in the woker firms – maybe one per quarter, or on the employee’s birthday. Bolton marketing agency The Audit Lab allows workers a ‘hangover day’ off.

Why offer such perks?

Letting staff recharge their batteries without the stigma of skiving aims to boost ‘wellbeing’ and cut the estimated 18 million working days lost to stress in Britain each year. Lockdown made things worse: research found that working from home had a negative impact on 46 per cent of employees. Insurer Aviva promised all its UK staff an extra day of ‘wellbeing leave’ this year, and both Kellogg’s and finance giant KPMG have told workers to leave early once a week. And people will bunk off anyway. One survey estimated 8.6 million of us take sick days each year just because we can’t be bothered going in. No surprise – Monday is by far the most common day to take off.

Do duvet days work?

Bosses say they boost productivity and help when hiring, as candidates seek a better work-life balance. Maire O’Regan, head at Roxwell C of E primary school in Essex, gave her staff a bonus day off before Christmas (as if the 13 weeks of school closure each year wasn’t enough) and said it made a ‘huge difference’ to her ‘scared, tired and drained’ staff.

Any naysayers?

Critics say duvet days are a way of avoiding addressing the real reasons why workers get stressed in the first place: if you need a mental health day because of burnout, it’s too late.

And if your boss doesn’t offer duvet days?

You’ll have to resort to the ageold skill of inventing an excuse. Employee experts Perkbox listed the worst-ever given, including: ‘I dreamt I was at work. As I thought I was there, I just stayed asleep.’ Try it!