Most Workers Who Call in 'Sick' Really Aren't, Study Finds : Workplace: More are taking unscheduled days off because of stress or feelings of entitlement. Trend is costly one for employers.

By NANCY RIVERA BROOKS

Sept. 23, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In today’s super-fast economy where everyone seems to be working all the time, more U.S. employees than ever are too stressed to make it to work, or they feel entitled to play hooky once in a while, a new survey has found.

Although employers made slight progress in the last year in reducing a record level of unscheduled absences, it remains a costly problem fueled by a troubling sense that workers are burning out, according to a report released Wednesday by CCH Inc., a Chicago publishing and research firm.

The survey of human resources managers at 305 firms representing nearly 800,000 employees showed that most workers who are away from the job on short notice are not sick but are staying home because of stress, family issues, personal needs or because they simply felt they deserved a day off.

Some employers, such as Pasadena City College and Genentech Inc. in South San Francisco, have tackled the no-show dilemma by increasing workplace flexibility and providing stress-busting benefits.

“Some people are doing some things right,” said Nancy Kaylor, a human resources analyst with CCH who directed the survey. However, some of the most effective ways of combating sudden absences were not well-used by the employers surveyed, she said.

Absenteeism in U.S. workplaces declined 7% in the last year, after skyrocketing 25% the year before to a seven-year high, the 1999 CCH study said. Despite the slight improvement, unscheduled absences cost employers an average of $602 a year per employee, CCH said.

Mid-size businesses with between 1,000 and 2,499 workers were hit hardest by increased absenteeism in the last year, noting a 51% increase. Small employers with 99 or fewer workers made the most progress, with a 76% decrease.

Health care was the industry suffering most from unscheduled days off, followed by universities and government.

But Kaylor said the most disturbing aspect of the survey was the reasons that H.R. managers found for unplanned days off.

Stress, which accounted for only 6% of absenteeism in 1995, jumped to 19% in 1999. What CCH dubbed “entitlement mentality,” or a feeling by workers that they deserve a day off, rose from 9% in 1995 to 19% in 1999. Only 21% of the absent workers were sick, down from 45% in 1995.

“I call it the ‘I’ve had it’ and ‘You owe me’ mentality,” Kaylor said. “The tight labor market plays into that entitlement mentality too, because if there aren’t enough workers to go around, the workers you do have are doing more and doing it longer.”

The International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency in Geneva, recently released a 600-page report that showed Americans put in longer hours on the job than workers of any other industrialized nation. U.S. workers clocked nearly 2,000 hours per person in 1997, nearly two working weeks more than their nearest competitors, Japanese workers.

Employers have been slow to heed the warning signs of too much work stress, Kaylor said.

“Organizations serious about reversing the trend have to investigate the causes of stress for their work force and implement programs to help employees deal with the many demands of their work and personal lives,” Kaylor said, noting that certain work-life programs have been successful in controlling absenteeism.

At Pasadena City College, management and unions recently agreed to flexible schedules as a way to reduce unscheduled absences, said Sandra Lindoerfer, dean of human resources.

“Like all employers, we would rather have our employees here,” Lindoerfer said. “When someone is not here, it’s a burden on their co-workers.”

Under the new flexible scheduling, employees “can build a workweek that would add up to 40 hours’ work that can be as untraditional as the employee and the supervisor want it to be,” Lindoerfer said. “It’s got to work for the whole department and the service that has to be provided.”

Genentech, a biotechnology company, is working to formalize its existing flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting and flex-time, according to CCH’s report. The company wants to “study a variety of options that can meet the emerging need of workers and the company.”

But Genentech, which faces an extremely competitive market for employees, also has developed some offbeat benefits in addition to generous pay, health club memberships, subsidized cafeteria and a child-care center.

There’s the six-week sabbatical at full pay earned after six years at the company, the “Guaranteed Ride Home Program” for transportation emergencies, weekly free-food socials with co-workers, a concierge to arrange various services, extended child-care hours once a month for a parents “Date Night” and free espresso around the clock.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Stressed Out

Reasons people called in sick:

1995

Illness: 45%

Personal needs: 13%

Family: 27%

Entitled: 9%

Stress: 6%

1999

Illness: 21%

Personal needs: 20%