{"id":31523,"date":"2025-07-26T07:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/with-the-hidden-costs-of-sick-days-workers-say-they-lie-about-taking-time-off\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T07:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:09:12","slug":"with-the-hidden-costs-of-sick-days-workers-say-they-lie-about-taking-time-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/with-the-hidden-costs-of-sick-days-workers-say-they-lie-about-taking-time-off\/","title":{"rendered":"With the hidden costs of sick days, workers say they lie about taking time off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1753380494\/news\/text_to_speech\/workers-lie-about-sick-days-time-off_rfinur.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite increasing <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdive.com\/news\/employers-plan-to-maintain-or-expand-well-being-offerings\/749245\/\" target=\"_blank\">investment in well-being programs<\/a>, few employees feel supported by their workplace\u2019s sick leave and mental health programs \u2014 and aren\u2019t sure whether they can really take time off without consequences, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.teamsoftware.com\/the-hidden-cost-of-sick-days\/\" target=\"_blank\">according to a July 10 report<\/a> from TEAM Software.<\/p>\n<p>While 39% of workers said they\u2019ve taken a mental health day, only 10% felt comfortable being honest with their employer about it \u2014 and received a positive response. Another 19% have disguised their mental health days as physical illness days, and 11% told their employer the truth but felt dismissed or unsupported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat silence often leads to secrecy,\u201d according to the report. \u201cThe result? A culture where fear, not trust, shapes how time off is requested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 42% said they\u2019ve exaggerated physical symptoms to justify taking time off for their mental health, including two-thirds of Generation Z workers and half of millennials. Beyond that, 22% of Gen Z employees said they\u2019ve completely lied about physical symptoms to take a mental health day.<\/p>\n<p>Generational attitudes about mental health add another aspect to the sick leave dilemma, the report found. During the past year, 86% of Gen Z workers said they\u2019ve experienced stress or burnout that negatively affected their productivity, compared to 36% of baby boomers and 61% of employees overall.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, older generations were less likely to acknowledge the need for a mental health day, with 55% of baby boomers saying they\u2019ve never needed one, compared to 14% of Gen Z.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe data points to a cultural shift still in progress, where younger workers recognize psychological strain but don\u2019t yet trust their workplace to treat it as valid,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>The hidden costs of inadequate sick leave policies are now adding up, the report found, with greater turnover, higher healthcare claims and lower productivity. A third of workers said they experienced brain fog or a lack of focus from overworking, as well as physical illnesses, sleeping issues, anxiety or panic attacks, poor eating habits and drops in their work performance.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, 35% said they worked through an illness, only to become sicker and need to miss more time. In contrast, the report found, adequate sick leave policies lead to better employee morale, retention and performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the story these statistics tell, sick leave isn\u2019t an employer-provided perk. It\u2019s ultimately a structural necessity. It safeguards both personal health and business continuity,\u201d according to the report. \u201cUntil clear, generous and stigma-free policies become the norm, the true cost of sick days will continue to surface not on timesheets but in the hidden debits of burnout, turnover and lost human potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/workers-lie-about-sick-days-time-off\/753973\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Despite &#8230; <a title=\"With the hidden costs of sick days, workers say they lie about taking time off\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/with-the-hidden-costs-of-sick-days-workers-say-they-lie-about-taking-time-off\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about With the hidden costs of sick days, workers say they lie about taking time off\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}