Sick of the boss
It probably doesn't come as a shock to many of us that almost two thirds of Australian employees have taken a sick day when they weren't really sick. Employees with poor managers are much more likely to do so than their counterparts with good managers, as evidenced by the following statistics:
- Employees with good managers were less likely to take a day off when they weren't sick [35% compared to 29% with poor managers]
- 23% of those with poor managers say they have taken time off because they couldn't stand their manager, compared to only 4% of those who rated their manager as good
- 23% of those with poor managers would seek to step into their manager's role if it became vacant
- 59% of Australians say their level of motivation at work is influenced by their manager
- 33% took time off when they weren't sick because they had worked too many hours, were burnt out or had too much responsibility and were not coping
- 27% had family problems to deal with
- 12% wanted to do other things
- 11% considered sick days to be a part of their salary and would take their full allowance every year
- 9% were bored with work
- 7% couldn't stand their manager
- 4% had a successful streak and deserved a break
- 4% couldn't face the commute in bad weather
Source: Recruitment Extra, December 2011- January 2012
