According to a survey from CCH, Inc., unscheduled absences were at a five-year high of 2.4 percent in 2004, up from 1.9 percent in 2003. And with only 38 percent of these absences being attributed to personal illness, and 23 percent being attributed to family issues, it appears more and more people are absent for non-traditional reasons, reports Circadian Technologies.
For example, many employees feel that it is wasteful to not use all their sick days. So they use them to have a day off from work. Others cite increasingly demanding workplaces, saying they feel burned out and need to take mental health days, according to Circadian.