Yahoo Finance Insane amount of sick leave Aussies are neglecting: ‘Can’t cash out’
Nearly half of Aussie workers say they feel pressure to work when they are sick, new research has found.
Millions of sick Aussies are feeling the pressure to continue to front up to work, despite pleas for them to use up their sick leave. Cold and flu season is well underway and many workplaces will have been struck down by sickness.
Almost half of Aussie workers (47 per cent) say they feel pressure to continue to soldier on and turn up to work when they are unwell, a new Finder survey found. That’s despite the average worker having a whopping 27 days of sick leave banked up.
Finder insurance expert Tim Bennett said the attitude towards sick days had shifted since work-from-home arrangements had become the norm.
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“Taking a sick day used to be a public service – it meant you weren’t getting others sick and you had to disconnect from the office,” Bennett said.
“But with many people working from home, taking a full sick day might feel unnecessary unless you are too unwell to open your computer.”
Bennett said that the cost-of-living crisis also means some staff were reluctant to take time off.
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‘You don’t need to feel guilty’
Melbourne resident Anthony Voulgaris went viral after telling workers they shouldn’t feel guilty for calling in sick. He said this is the case even if they aren’t actually ill.
“That’s literally what sick leave is for. That’s literally why we live in a good country so that when you are sick you can still get paid,” Voulgaris said on TikTok.
The young Aussie said there was a culture of people feeling bad for calling in sick, especially in industries like retail.
“In retail, if you call in sick, the manager acts like you’ve personally gone up to them and stabbed their entire family. It is so ridiculous,” he said.
It appears younger Aussies like Voulgaris are less likely to feel bad about taking a sickie compared to older workers.
A study conducted by Frost and Sullivan in 2022 found Gen Z’s averaged 14.3 sick days per year, compared to 8.9 days for Baby Boomers.
It estimated that Aussies calling in sick to work could cost businesses as much as $24 billion a year.
Aussies told to use it or lose it
Along with feelings of guilt and shame, Bennett said some employees were made to feel like they were “taking advantage of their employer” if they called in sick.
“For some workers, no work means no pay, so they literally can’t afford to be sick,” he said.
Full-time employees in Australia are given 10 days of paid ‘personal/carer’s leave’ - aka sick leave - each year. This entitlement is not given to casual workers.
“You can’t cash-out sick leave if you resign or are laid-off, so there’s no sense in not using your allowance if you become unwell,” Bennett said.
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