The generation most likely to pull a sick day

Business & FinanceLifestyle
30 Aug 2026 • 12:58 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

The generation most likely to pull a sick day

  • A survey by Merlin Strategy for the Centre for Social Justice reveals 82 per cent of workers under 25 have taken a sick day when not genuinely ill over the past year, compared to 43 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds.
  • Thirty-nine per cent of Generation Z employees reported pulling a sickie at least five times in the last year, compared to just one in ten older workers.
  • Younger staff frequently cited burnout, tiredness, hangovers, avoiding tasks, and attending job interviews as reasons for taking unnecessary time off.
  • Despite these findings on pulling sickies, official Office for National Statistics data shows overall sickness absence rates remain higher among older workers.
  • The Centre for Social Justice highlighted a striking generational divide in attitudes towards taking unauthorised leave from work.

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