Fake Sick Days Cost Australia $7.3 Billion Annually

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Turns out a lot of Aussies are taking “sickies” — and not because they’re actually sick.

A new iSelect survey has revealed that a whopping seven out of ten Australians admit to calling in sick when they’re totally fine. And all those cheeky days off are costing businesses a massive $7.3 billion a year in lost productivity, adding up to 24.6 million sick days across the country.

Even if you take mental health days out of the picture, 68% of people still say they’ve faked being sick to get a day off.

So what’s behind the fake coughs and “can’t-get-out-of-bed” texts?

The top reason? Lack of sleep. About one in three people said they called in sick last year just because they were exhausted. Following that, 27% said they just wanted to relax and recharge, and 23.1% took a mental health day — even if they didn’t feel comfortable being upfront about it.

The survey also showed a few interesting gender differences:

• Women were more likely to take time off for mental health reasons (26.6% compared to 19.5% of men).

• They were also more likely to call in sick to care for family or kids (20.1% vs 16.3% of men).

So next time someone’s “got the flu,” they might just be catching up on sleep or catching a breather from the daily grind.

Stay tuned with Aus News Lanka – the leading platform for news for Australians.