Skipping work under the guise of a sick day may come back to haunt a person if they post the day's events to a social media account. A boss or a co-worker could catch the employee in a lie that results in job termination.
Nearly a quarter of employers (24 percent) have caught their employees lying about an illness with a simple search on social media, according to a CareerBuilder national survey conducted by Harris Poll. The employer ended up firing a 22 percent of those offenders, but more than half only reprimanded the employee.
"People often forget that they're friends with their boss or co-workers on social media and inadvertently get themselves in trouble," Mary Lorenz, corporate communications manager with CareerBuilder, told The Plain Dealer.
Some bosses will go to great lengths to corroborate their employee's legitimate absence. More than 65 percent will ask for a doctor's note, 49 percent will call the employee and another 15 percent will drive past the employee's home. Nearly one-third of employers need some sort of proof from their employees after they're out sick.
The survey also listed the "most unbelievable excuses for calling in sick." They included putting a casserole in the oven, "getting lucky" and waking up in a unfamiliar location, and accidentally getting on a plane.
The number of employees faking sick dropped from 32 percent to 28 percent in the last year, but both numbers fall within the average of the past few years, according to Lorenz.
A majority of employees indicated they don't have the luxury to miss a day of work even when sick. More than half (53 percent) will go to work because "they felt the work wouldn't get done" and 38 percent said they couldn't afford to miss a day pay, according to the survey.
"When workers don't have paid sick days provided by their employer, the repercussions of missing work are more severe (such as lost wages), which may explain why we saw fewer workers in this group call in sick," Lorenz said.
Most employees call off during the winter months. December ranked highest among employers (21 percent) who see their employees call out. January followed with 17 percent and February with 14 percent).
CareerBuilder surveyed 2,203 hiring managers and human resource professionals as well as 3,103 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government). The company conducted the survey between Aug. 11 and Sept. 5.
