“The days of feeling guilty for taking a sick day will soon be over.”
This is according to Danielle Farage, an expert on Gen Z. And over at Business Insider, Emily Stewart recently explored a related idea–that sick days are actually about setting boundaries–although she cautions against taking too many days off. But here again, an increase in sick days is seen as progress, led by Gen Z.
Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on my generation like Farage, but I do have a Gen Xer’s worth of experience in HR and will say this: Guilt-free sick days have been around for a long time. Only a small portion of the population ever actually felt guilty for taking a sick day. Plenty of people took sick days when they were sick. Plenty called in sick when they were decidedly not sick, but just wanted a day off.
That said, the total number of sick days being taken is definitely higher. Let’s figure out if you, as a boss, need to deal with this.
To keep reading, click here: Sick Days Are Skyrocketing–but Here’s What No One Is Talking About