Something for the weekend: If you’ve ever wondered which country has the highest amount of sick leave, then wonder no more, as new research has found that US workers call in sick 53,280 times a year, making them the most frequent users of it.
Artificial intelligence (AI) organisation Artisan analysed search volumes for 20 sick leave-related terms across UK cities, US states, and countries worldwide to discover which places are most impacted by employee sickness. The locations were ranked based on the average number of searches to find the places with the highest rates of employees calling in sick.
The US had the highest rate of employee sick leave in the world, with 183,840 annual searches for sick-related terms, 4,400 monthly searches for ‘how to call in sick’ and 1,900 for ‘what to say when calling in sick’.
The UK ranked second, with 126,240 searches made annually for sickness-related terms, 22,800 for ‘how to call in sick’ and 1,900 for ‘how to call in sick’ annually.
Austria followed with 125,640 annual searches for sick-related terms and an average of 9,900 monthly searches for ‘how to call in work due to illness’. Meanwhile, the country least likely to call in sick is Iceland, where just 1,200 searches are made per year for sick-related terms.
Within the UK, the city with the highest number of annual searches for sick-related terms is London, with 27,360 searches. Birmingham followed in second place with 4,400 annual searches, and Manchester was in third with 3,000. The two northern cities also lead with faking sick leave, with 240 searches per month for ‘what to say when calling in sick’.
An Artisan spokesperson said: “Sick leave can plummet workers’ productivity and cause the output of businesses to decrease. The analysis focused on the average monthly search volume for various ‘sick day’ related terms. The monthly figures were multiplied to calculate the yearly average search volume, revealing the locations most likely to see employees calling in sick.”
Employers can help by offering their workforce supportive healthcare and wellbeing benefits!
