Swedes fake illness to skip work
Swedish employees feign illness to stay home from work for an average of 7.62 days per year .
Only in India did more people admit to skipping work without good cause.
The findings are the result of a poll carried out by the Munich-based Geva-Institut, an organization specializing in labour market surveys. A representative sample of 11,000 people were interviewed for the survey.
The respondents were asked two questions in relation to absence from work: First: "In the last 12 months, how many days were you sick and therefore unable to work?". Then: "Hand on your heart - how many of those days that you didn't work were you not really sick?"
"These questions are just one part of an ongoing international study on employee satisfaction," Holger Lange from the Geva-Institut told The Local.
Of the 25 countries surveyed, Sweden and India led the field by quite some distance. Swedish workers took more sick days than any of the others (17.33), closely followed by India (15.49).
"There are different factors for different countries but Sweden is rather well known for having a lot of sick days," said Lange.
As for the "hand on heart" qusestion, workers in India topped the pile with an average of 8.64 days of unwarranted sick leave per person each year.
Employees in the USA, in third place, claimed a comparatively modest 3.07 days off work for imagined ills.
Italy and Germany filled the final two berths in the top five, steering clear of the workplace on false pretences for 2.2 and 1.83 days respectively.
Hungarians were discovered to be the most reliable workers; the Central Europeans faked illness for an average of just over half a day (0.54) each per year.
The second most virtuous employees were to be found in Mexico (0.62), followed by Bulgaria (0.67), Turkey (0.73), Belgium (0.93) and South Korea (1.0).
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Only in India did more people admit to skipping work without good cause.
The findings are the result of a poll carried out by the Munich-based Geva-Institut, an organization specializing in labour market surveys. A representative sample of 11,000 people were interviewed for the survey.
The respondents were asked two questions in relation to absence from work: First: "In the last 12 months, how many days were you sick and therefore unable to work?". Then: "Hand on your heart - how many of those days that you didn't work were you not really sick?"
"These questions are just one part of an ongoing international study on employee satisfaction," Holger Lange from the Geva-Institut told The Local.
Of the 25 countries surveyed, Sweden and India led the field by quite some distance. Swedish workers took more sick days than any of the others (17.33), closely followed by India (15.49).
"There are different factors for different countries but Sweden is rather well known for having a lot of sick days," said Lange.
As for the "hand on heart" qusestion, workers in India topped the pile with an average of 8.64 days of unwarranted sick leave per person each year.
Employees in the USA, in third place, claimed a comparatively modest 3.07 days off work for imagined ills.
Italy and Germany filled the final two berths in the top five, steering clear of the workplace on false pretences for 2.2 and 1.83 days respectively.
Hungarians were discovered to be the most reliable workers; the Central Europeans faked illness for an average of just over half a day (0.54) each per year.
The second most virtuous employees were to be found in Mexico (0.62), followed by Bulgaria (0.67), Turkey (0.73), Belgium (0.93) and South Korea (1.0).
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