More than a quarter of employees now use sick days for mental health reasons – rather than just physical illness – highlighting the shifting attitudes towards health.
Online job-seeker platform, Kickresume, surveyed 1,897 people worldwide on how they use sick days. It showed that 28 per cent of responders take sick days to protect their mental health, while another 22 per cent admitted to using them as a “just need a break” day.
The study also suggests there are variations in workplace stress. While 42 per cent of Americans admit using sick days for mental health, only 25 per cent of Europeans do so.
The Kickresume study set out to see how sick days fit into the broader trend of “ghost vacationing”. The term has been coined to describe instances when an employee takes time off without letting their employer know – without an official request or explanation.
The survey asked ghost vacationers for their reasons to do so. It revealed that nearly a third (31 per cent) did it due to burnout or mental health, while a further 20 per cent “just wanted a break”.
According to the Kicresume, the results show how closely the answers mirror the way people use sick days. The company stated:
“Many take a sick day for mental health (28 per cent) or simply because they need a break (22 per cent). Ghost vacationers give almost the exact same reasons: burnout or mental health (31 per cent) and wanting a break (20 per cent).
This overlap is too obvious to simply brush off. Together, these results suggest that when it comes to stress, exhaustion, or mental health, people simply don’t feel they can be upfront. Instead, they turn to quiet workarounds. Sometimes that means calling in sick when they’re not physically ill. Other times it means disappearing without saying anything at all. Either way, workers clearly need space to recover, but they don’t always feel safe or comfortable asking for it directly.”
For the full results and data of the survey, visit the Kickresume website here.
