Milly Bannister believes Gen Z workers prioritise work-life balance and mental health, while Graham Wynn claims they have a “sense of entitlement” to sick leave. (Source: TikTok/Supplied)
Sick leave costs the Australian economy billions of dollars each year. And there’s a vast generational difference when it comes to which workers call in sick and those who soldier on.
Gen Z workers are nearly twice as likely to call in sick than Baby Boomers, a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan found, with the majority of young workers doing so with minimum symptoms. It found Gen Z workers take an average of 14.3 sick days per year, compared to Baby Boomers with 8.9 sick days.
Superior People Recruitment founder and director Graham Wynn told Yahoo Finance that younger workers feel a “sense of entitlement” to sick leave.
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“The more mature workforce says, ‘Yes I’m allowed those sick days but I’m not sick, I won’t take the time off’,” Wynn said.
“It’s definitely a generational thing. We are in this age of entitlement and if you are entitled to 10 sick days [younger workers] will take them.”
Milly Bannister, Gen Z founder of youth mental health charity ALLKND, agrees generations approach sick days differently but thinks other factors are at play.
“Younger workers, like Millennials and Gen Z, usually place more weight in work-life balance and mental health, and are more likely to have the language to articulate these experiences, therefore often more okay with taking sick days for these reasons,” Bannister told Yahoo Finance.
“Older workers, like Gen X and Boomers often have a more traditional view of work ethic, feeling obligated to work through illness due to ingrained beliefs about duty and productivity.”
Wynn claimed older workers have a stronger sense of “responsibility and loyalty to their employer” which plays into the reluctance to take sick days.
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“I think loyalty to employers is not as strong for younger generations as it was for my age,” he said.
Workers not using sick leave
Full-time employees in Australia are entitled to 10 days of paid sick leave each year, also known as personal or carers leave, under National Employment Standards.
This accumulates each year and can’t be cashed out if you resign.
A recent survey by Finder found the average worker has a whopping 27 days of sick leave accrued, with 47 per cent saying they felt pressure to continue to work when they were unwell.
Bannister said this kind of “presenteeism” often happened when people were scared of losing their job, felt pressured to meet deadlines or worked at a place that made them feel bad about taking time off.
Bannister said working when you are unwell can create more stress and make it harder to recover. (Source: TikTok/Instagram)
“This can be just as bad as not showing up at all since it actually hurts productivity,” she said.
“Ignoring an illness can make things worse physically and mentally since you’re not giving yourself time to recover.”
Wynn said the tight jobs market was also making people feel like they needed to soldier on, with the unemployment rate ticking up slightly to 4.1 per cent in June.
“A lot of it would definitely be people worried about if I don’t go [to work] will I keep my job? Will they get rid of me? Will it go against me for pay rises in the future?” he said.
Wynn said work from home arrangements had also changed attitudes towards sick days.
“If you had a cold you might stay off work so as not to infect other people. If you’re working from home, can you still work if it’s not serious?” he said.
Need for flexible sick leave policies
Bannister claimed employers should create supportive environments for staff, including the offer of flexible sick leave policies and normalising mental health days.
“Policies that cover both physical and mental health can help build a healthier workplace culture,” she said.
“Open communication about health and wellbeing can also help spot and fix issues that might lead to unexpected absences.”
Bannister said this will help support employees’ wellbeing and ultimately lead to a more productive and engaged workforce.
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