Nonprofit HR’s Blog

A new survey of employees seems to indicate that one in three will give their employers a tall tale in order to miss a day at the office. Laura Petrecca has the details.

A botched hair-dye job. A bad breakup. And yes, actually being sick.

These are some of the reasons employees call in sick, according to a survey by job search site CareerBuilder.com.

Some explanations for an unplanned day off are truthful. Some exaggerate. Then there are the outright lies.

Nearly a third of workers reported false ailments in order to play hooky during the past year, according to the survey of 3,976 employees.

Nearly one in six ditched work “to catch up on sleep.” Other reasons included going to a job interview, attending a child’s event or not being able to get a babysitter.

CareerBuilder also surveyed 2,494 hiring managers and human resource professionals.

Among the most memorable excuses:

• “Employee was upset after watching The Hunger Games.”
• “Employee’s dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation.”
• “Employee’s hair turned orange from dying her hair at home.”

Some outrageous tales stem from a worker’s desire to convince a tough boss that the need for time off is crucial, “so they come up with something very imaginative,” says Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder vice president for human resources.