12 Reasons Employees Call in Sick on Mondays
It’s Sunday. Whether you are working remotely or in person, do you plan on calling in sick tomorrow?
Did you know that twice as many people call in sick on Mondays as compared to Fridays?
That’s 24.8% vs.12.8% according to a recent study conducted in the UK. And few would argue that employee absenteeism places pressure on productivity, morale AND the bottom line, but who’s keeping track?
Putting reasons aside like actual sickness or a natural disaster, the following common workplace behaviors are fueling Monday absenteeism:
- Personal and professional gain take precedent over truth
- Accountability is expected but not practiced by management
- Short-term wins beat long-term purpose
- Talk is not followed by supporting actions
- Only one voice matters and it’s not yours
- Values? Principled and ethical behavior? Not so much.
- Closed doors discourage open-mindedness
- Hidden agendas stifle transparency
- Fear is rampant and compliance “rules”
- Failures are punished leading to lack of innovation
- Honesty is not encouraged
- Shared values have never been discussed
Can you name the common thread running through these?
If you guessed low trust you are correct, and it is present in almost every workplace. Low trust, leads to low morale which, in turn, increases employee absenteeism.
The fixes aren’t all that difficult if you can get past Step #1 below.
Step #1 ACKNOWLEDGE that trust is low. That’s the hardest part. Reviewing these universal principles and answering this one question/one minute anonymous survey will help. (Almost 150,000 people already have)
Step #2 Identify which principles are weak in your organization. They won’t all be and strengths can be celebrated.
Step #3 Mend them with these tools. You can do it yourself or contact barbara@trustacrossamerica.com
We call these 3 steps AIM Towards Trust.
Why have YOU chosen to call in sick tomorrow? What actions can you take to lessen Monday absenteeism?
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Founder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust.
Copyright 2020, Next Decade, Inc.
