Aug 23, 2023 - Economy
"America's sickest day of the year"
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
This Thursday is the unofficial national call out sick day.
- According to a study from Flamingo, a platform that helps companies track absences, Aug. 24 is when U.S. workers most often call out.
Zoom in: The finding, reported earlier by Bloomberg, is based on data over the past five years from about 300 businesses with more than 10,000 employees.
- An average of 0.9% were out sick on that date — a higher percentage than Feb. 13 (aligned with the Super Bowl), which came in at No. 2.
Zoom out: October 25, December 15 and April 18 round out the top 5 for most popular sick days.
- February overall has been the "sickest" month over the past five years, with 10% of workers taking sick leave on average. Following closely behind: April and December.
- Among ailments keeping people home, or away from their keyboards: Stomach issues (54%), COVID (25%) and stress and anxiety, including burnout (9%) have been the top three most common.
- Texting, Slack and other messaging apps (54%) have been the most preferred way for workers to give notice, followed by calls (33%) and email (12%).
We know what you're thinking... But don't judge.
- "[It's our place] ... to realize that human beings need time off and to create environments and policies that allow them to exercise this right when need be," Paaras Parker, chief human resources officer at Paycor, tells Bloomberg.
