By David Taylor
Australians are some of the worst in the world when it comes to taking a sickie, one expert says.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the average public sector worker takes about eight to nine days of sick leave annually, for both legitimate and non-legitimate reasons.
Workers have been caught posting photos on social media when they are supposed to be at work, or taking long weekends.
Andrew Stewart, a professor of law at the University of Adelaide who specialises in workplace law, said the legitimacy of the sickie was almost embedded in Australia’s culture.
“Think back to when Australia won the America’s Cup and our Prime Minister, of all people, said that ‘any boss who makes their workers come to work today is a bum’.
“In other words, you have our Prime Minister encouraging people to take a sickie in order to get over the hangover of celebrating our America’s Cup win.”
But is there any benefit in taking a “mental health day”?
Professor Stewart said it depended on the context.
“If you’ve got somebody repeatedly taking Mondays off or in fact any day of the week when they feel like it and they’re not committed to work, then that’s a problem.
“If you’ve got large numbers of people not coming in on a given day when you need a critical mass of people to get some important tasks done then that’s a problem,” he said.
Sick days are estimated to cost the economy $30 billion a year.
But Professor Stewart said companies could actually promote loyalty and boost productivity by giving employees flexibility with how much time they take off.
“For some organisations the occasional sickie is not a problem,” he said.
“It may actually be a positive benefit insofar as people feeling more committed to the organisation [if they think they] can take the time off when they want.”
Employees going to work when they should be in bed
On the flip-side, it seems Australians are also avoiding using stored up annual leave.
“Australia has got a massive amount of untaken annual leave,” Professor Stewart said.
It is related to what is called presenteeism, when workers push on and go to work when they should be resting at home, and it can cost companies just as much as sickies.
That is partly because of how many germs a sick worker may pass on to their colleagues causing a spread of infection and disease.
Dr Brian Morton, chair of the Council of General Practice for the Australian Medical Association, said people were contagious a couple of days before they started presenting symptoms.
“A sort of rule of thumb is two days getting sick, two days being sick and two days getting over it,” he said.
Dr Morton said anyone you were in close contact with was at risk of catching the cold or flu.
“Upper respiratory viral illnesses are spread by droplet infection, so it’s our breath, it’s coughing over someone, sneezing over someone,” he said.
He said people should cough into their elbows or shoulders, keep tissues on their desk, wash their hands and use antibacterial wipes.
“Most people I think are a little bit stoic and think that it’s just a cold, ‘I can get over it, work’s more important’. But we really need to think about our co-workers and perhaps the people on the bus or the train so that we’re not spreading it to others.”
Flu vaccinations are helpful in stopping the spread of viruses but are only effective for 60 per cent of the population.