Burning Questions: Is it ever acceptable to take a sickie from work?

Figures last year from PricewaterhouseCoopers showed sickness absence was costing UK organisation almost £29 billion.

British workers were found to have been taking more than four times as many sick days than others around the world. The UK average of 9.1 days per year was double the US and quadruple that of the Asia Pacific region.

Technology companies reported the lowest level of sickness among staff.

Other figures from the CBI claimed one in eight sick days were “non-genuine”, and a fifth of UK employers believed staff “took sickies as an occasional perk”.

Do you think it’s ever valid for someone to take a sick day when they’re not actually ill? Have you ever pulled a sickie yourself due to being hungover or just not feeling like going into work? What excuse did you come up with?

If you’re too honest and upstanding to ever consider a sickie, what do you think of colleagues who do it? Should they get into trouble with bosses or have their pay docked? When someone phones in poorly at your workplace do you ever suspect they’re pulling a sickie or are you more trusting?

Do you get annoyed and feel put upon by colleagues’ sick days, genuine or otherwise, or do you just accept sick leave as a fact of life and know that the favour will likely be returned at some later date?

Add your comments below.

The Burning Questions feature aims to resolve some of the oddities of social etiquette, settle some of life’s perennial arguments and crack some of those tricky questions with readers’ collective knowledge.

If there is an issue you’re always squabbling about with workmates or friends or something that makes you go hmmm, email me with your suggestions for future burning questions to ask.