If you woke up this morning contemplating pulling a sickie, you aren’t alone.

If you did pull a sickie and you’re reading this from home – well played.

Now you just have to hope that you used the right excuse.

The first Monday of February has traditionally been known as ‘National Sickie Day’, reports The Telegraph, although it’s slowly being replaced by January 2 if the latest data is anything to go on.

Still, you can see the logic in it remaining the first Monday of February:

The day is nicknamed National Sickie Day, and it is estimated that around 350,000 people will skive off work today after a weekend of drinking post Dry January.

It is also claimed that many employees shirk work at the start of February because they are attending a job interview.

The reason for your absence has to be a good one, because your boss probably isn’t as gullible as you’d like to believe.

Previous research by medical insurance provider Axa PPP Healthcare found that just one in five bosses consider a headache or migraine serious enough to warrant a day off, while back pain, an injury caused by accident and even elective surgery, such as a cataract operation or hip replacement, also fail to arouse sympathy out of managers, with only 37pc of 1,000 business owners considering these ailments adequate excuses for missing work.

The survey found that flu (or anything contagious, I would imagine) is the most acceptable excuse for staff to stay at home. Mental health concerns weren’t viewed that kindly by employers because people are more likely to lie about non-physical health.

Some of the excuses used by employees they surveyed include: “I fell over in the shower and knocked myself out”; “I thought it was Saturday today”; “I had a bad dream and needed the day to recover” and “my partner threw the TV remote at me last night and I chipped my tooth”.

The absence rate on a Monday has risen significantly over the past few years – which, in my humble opinion, is a good reason to start thinking about that four-day workweek everyone keeps talking about.

Just putting it out there.

Back to ‘pulling a sickie’ – you’ll want to make sure that your excuse is foolproof because if you’re caught out, there could be consequences.

Faking or exaggerating illness is potentially gross misconduct justifying dismissal, but proving it is tricky. Social media posts, for example a photo of an employee claiming back pain playing tennis, often arouse employers’ suspicions, but aren’t always reliable evidence.

In other words, calling in sick with back pain and then going full Ferris Bueller on a parade float is probably not the best idea.

For those of you who are actually sick…

Get well soon, friends, so that you can take a sick day when you’re healthy.

[source:telegraph]