What is America's "sickest" day of the year?
If you're out sick today, join the club. According to a new study, August 24 is when the greatest number of employees around the U.S. call in to work with some real, imagined or totally bogus ailment.
Flamingo, which makes software to help companies track worker' paid time off, found that today edged out February 13, which ranked second for "sickest" day of the year and which the company noted happens to be right around the time of the Super Bowl.
Sick leave also rose in April and December, as employees perhaps succumbed to spring fever or actual fevers. The findings are based on an analysis of sick leave data from larger companies over the past five years.
Other findings from the study:
- Most common excuse for being out: Stomach problems (54%); COVID, including possible cases (25%); stress (9%); injuries (6%)
- Most common way workers reported being out sick: text, including platforms like Slack and WhatsApp (54%); phone (33%); email (12%)
- Month with the greatest share of workers out sick: February
The calendar's top 10 days for workers taking sick leave, according to Flamingo:
- August 24
- February 13
- October 25
- December 15
- April 18
- February 2
- January 24
- June 26
- December 12
- September 5
According to the Department of Labor, 79% of all workers got at least some paid sick leave, with that figure rising to 86% for unionized employees. On average, employees in the private sector with one year of service get seven paid sick days — the same amount of leave as for people with 20 years under their belt.
Still, the U.S. stands alone among developed countries in not guaranteeing workers paid time off — a possible recipe for stomach problems, stress and COVID infections.