UK's top 10 'sickie' excuses

Everyone knows someone who has done it. Be it a ‘post-work pint’ that turned in to one too many, or a Friday where the idea of basking in the glorious sun was more appealing than back-to-back meetings in a windowless boardroom, ‘sickie’ culture is prevalent.

A new study from reed.co.uk has discovered that one in six Britons (14% or 4.3million people) have ‘pulled a sickie’. One in seven (13%) have started the weekend early and phoned in sick on a Friday, while one in eight (12%) fabricating a Monday morning illness so they could spend an extra day recovering from a busy weekend. 

Employees are also getting more imaginative with their excuses. Some have played the ‘scatter-brained employee’ card by saying ‘I thought it was Sunday not Monday’ or ‘my dog ate my iPhone’, while others have gone to greater lengths with reasons such as ‘I’ve been waiting for a bus for three hours’ and ‘I cannot make it into work this morning as I have sunburnt feet’.   

The study also asked employers to name their most common reasons for a day-off, which can be seen below.