Time Off For Retail Therapy
100% attendance in the work place is not on the list of women’s priorities according to recent research that revealed 1 in 5 women have pulled a ‘sickie’ to go shopping.
A spot of retail therapy is the main reason that 19% of women in the UK call in work and fake illness. In comparison, only 4% of men take the day off to shop, instead using their sick days to play on videogames.
Women admitted that to prevent being rumbled they will travel to other cities to shop. Some will even shop online out of fear they will be found out.
The study of 1,920 employees in the UK was conducted by popular discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and they discovered that just 46% of sick days in the UK are legitimate.
Other than shopping, the main reasons that women take sick days include attending appointments, visiting friends and family and catching up on sleep.
The most surprising result was that 6% of women call in sick in order to catch up with housework.
74% of men admitted taking a day off unnecessarily whereas only 65% of women confessed to lying to their boss.
Mark Pearson, retail expert and managing director of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk had the following to say,
“The sickie is a time-honoured employment tradition, and although employers, including myself, wouldn’t be happy to know that our workers are faking a cold in order to buy the latest Jimmy Choos, you’ve got to admire their dedication to their interest!
“As for women shopping, I can see this figure rising on the run-up to Christmas, as great deals and discounts both online and on the high street influence them to pick up the phone and put on their best ‘I’d come in if I could’ voice.”
Mark joked,
“Whatever the reason people decide not to go into work despite being fully capable, sickies cost the UK economy a shedload of money. Perhaps the Government could look to recoup lost revenue from games developers and fashion outlets?”
Tagged in employment