Generation Call-In-Sick....Americans are taking a lot more sick days and Gen Z is leading the charge.

[1srelluc]

https://archive.is/uT93c#selection-1773.0-1829.148

The kids are calling in sick to work. Not actual kids, who (hopefully) are not working, but Gen Zers. They're racking up sick days and taking more mental-health days. In the spring of their careers, they're even going on sabbatical. Gen Zers are setting a boundary, and that boundary is not being at work when they're not feeling up to it.

The amount of time people take off from their jobs has risen steadily over the past few years. Dayforce, a human-resources platform, said sick leave was up by 55% in 2023 compared with 2019 among companies that use its services in the US. Gusto, another HR platform, has similar findings:

Using data from over 300,000 small and midsize businesses that use its platform, it found that 30% of workers in professional-services industries — meaning white-collar workers — took sick leave last year, a 42% jump from 2019.

This year, it says, that figure has continued to climb.

While workers of all ages are taking more time away, it's young people who are really driving the shift. Gusto found that the 25-to-34 crowd was taking more sick time than older workers. Similarly, Dayforce found that people 35 and under had a 29% increase in sick leave since 2019, compared with a 16% increase for people over 35.

Younger remote workers are taking more sick time than older ones, too. The same is true for extended leave: Gusto found at the start of the year that workers 22 to 26 were the most likely group to have taken a sabbatical, followed by 27- to 34-year-olds.

Bootstraps are breaking .....Sigh, they don’t make em like they used to.

In the words of my late co-worker Bonze Harris as it regarded folks calling-in sick:

"Too much sickness and not enough death"

 

[martybegan]

https://archive.is/uT93c#selection-1773.0-1829.148

The kids are calling in sick to work. Not actual kids, who (hopefully) are not working, but Gen Zers. They're racking up sick days and taking more mental-health days. In the spring of their careers, they're even going on sabbatical. Gen Zers are setting a boundary, and that boundary is not being at work when they're not feeling up to it.

The amount of time people take off from their jobs has risen steadily over the past few years. Dayforce, a human-resources platform, said sick leave was up by 55% in 2023 compared with 2019 among companies that use its services in the US. Gusto, another HR platform, has similar findings:

Using data from over 300,000 small and midsize businesses that use its platform, it found that 30% of workers in professional-services industries — meaning white-collar workers — took sick leave last year, a 42% jump from 2019.

This year, it says, that figure has continued to climb.

While workers of all ages are taking more time away, it's young people who are really driving the shift. Gusto found that the 25-to-34 crowd was taking more sick time than older workers. Similarly, Dayforce found that people 35 and under had a 29% increase in sick leave since 2019, compared with a 16% increase for people over 35.

Younger remote workers are taking more sick time than older ones, too. The same is true for extended leave: Gusto found at the start of the year that workers 22 to 26 were the most likely group to have taken a sabbatical, followed by 27- to 34-year-olds.

Bootstraps are breaking .....Sigh, they don’t make em like they used to.

In the words of my late co-worker Bonze Harris as it regarded folks calling-in sick:

"Too much sickness and not enough death"

I'm Gen X and I started that myself when they took separate sick and vacation days and lumped them into "Paid Time Off".

With vacation days, it's implied you need to plan ahead for those, but if they wanted to lump them into PTO, well to me one day here or there doesn't need to be scheduled as long as I am reachable by phone in an emergency.

Only government employees these days get actual sick time anymore.

 

[1srelluc]

I'm Gen X and I started that myself when they took separate sick and vacation days and lumped them into "Paid Time Off".

With vacation days, it's implied you need to plan ahead for those, but if they wanted to lump them into PTO, well to me one day here or there doesn't need to be scheduled as long as I am reachable by phone in an emergency.

Only government employees these days get actual sick time anymore.

Well given that better than half of new jobs created in the last 3.5 years are government jobs of one flavor or another it still holds true.

 

[Anathema]

I think part of it is related to new laws. Several years ago Massachusetts mandated that most employees had to be given 40 hours of “Earned Sick Leave” per year. Prior to that every company had its own system.

Prior to that, my employer used a “sick instances” system that really punished employees for being out single days. Two instances (1-3 days) per 6 months or 3 per year got you warned. Additional instances could be a cause for termination. Anything over 3 days was considered medical leave and had to go through an outside group to be approved. It still does.

 

[rampart]

https://archive.is/uT93c#selection-1773.0-1829.148

The kids are calling in sick to work. Not actual kids, who (hopefully) are not working, but Gen Zers. They're racking up sick days and taking more mental-health days. In the spring of their careers, they're even going on sabbatical. Gen Zers are setting a boundary, and that boundary is not being at work when they're not feeling up to it.

The amount of time people take off from their jobs has risen steadily over the past few years. Dayforce, a human-resources platform, said sick leave was up by 55% in 2023 compared with 2019 among companies that use its services in the US. Gusto, another HR platform, has similar findings:

Using data from over 300,000 small and midsize businesses that use its platform, it found that 30% of workers in professional-services industries — meaning white-collar workers — took sick leave last year, a 42% jump from 2019.

This year, it says, that figure has continued to climb.

While workers of all ages are taking more time away, it's young people who are really driving the shift. Gusto found that the 25-to-34 crowd was taking more sick time than older workers. Similarly, Dayforce found that people 35 and under had a 29% increase in sick leave since 2019, compared with a 16% increase for people over 35.

Younger remote workers are taking more sick time than older ones, too. The same is true for extended leave: Gusto found at the start of the year that workers 22 to 26 were the most likely group to have taken a sabbatical, followed by 27- to 34-year-olds.

Bootstraps are breaking .....Sigh, they don’t make em like they used to.

In the words of my late co-worker Bonze Harris as it regarded folks calling-in sick:

"Too much sickness and not enough death"

covid? no health care? or do you suspect malingering?

 

[Blaster]

Many folks that take sick days are not even ill.

 

[TNHarley]

I cant blame them, honestly.
We work most of our lives. Nothing wrong with taking a day here and there. After all, its their days.

 

[rightwinger]

I once went 7 1/2 years without taking a sick day

 

[Manonthestreet]

I only remember dad missing 1 day of work due to sickness

 

[Anathema]

I cant blame them, honestly.
We work most of our lives. Nothing wrong with taking a day here and there. After all, its their days.

Nothing wrong with taking the time if it’s offered.

I certainly don’t leave any vacation, sick, holiday, floating holiday or other time on the table at the end of the year. I track mine religiously.

 

[TNHarley]

Nothing wrong with taking the time if it’s offered.

I certainly don’t leave any vacation, sick, holiday, floating holiday or other time on the table at the end of the year. I track mine religiously.

Same. You earn it. Take it.
Its part of your compensation.

 

[Manonthestreet]

State of MN passed a law mandating a PTO system for all employers if they didn't already give sick leave . 40 hrs a yr . Part of the fallout is if you call in sick you have to use PTO, you can't opt for no pay.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Nothing wrong with taking the time if it’s offered.

I certainly don’t leave any vacation, sick, holiday, floating holiday or other time on the table at the end of the year. I track mine religiously.

Some of ours will carry over. I carried almost a week this yr.n

 

[odanny]

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I once went 7 1/2 years without taking a sick day

sorry to hear that