SINGAPORE: Nearly one in five workers in Singapore admit that they have feigned an illness in order to go on medical leave, according to findings from an online survey by JobsCentral.
And about half of these respondents revealed they would do so three or more times a year.
A total of 3,299 employees and 256 hiring managers took part in the survey conducted from August to October this year.
77.7
per cent of employers said they would perform checks when their staff
is absent due to illness. But most of these employers said they would
rely on medical certificates to verify sickness claims.
Only
12.3 per cent said they would call the employee to check, while 5 per
cent would go to the extent of asking a co-worker to check on the
employee.
As to the reasons why workers faked illnesses, most
said they did so because they did not feel like working. Another 30 per
cent cited plans outside work.
When asked to describe their
current job satisfaction, only a marginally larger proportion of workers
who took bogus sick leave voiced discontentment with their jobs.
JobsCentral said this suggests that employees who feign illness to skip work may not necessarily be unhappy with their jobs.
Chief
Operating Officer of JobsCentral Group, Michelle Lim said: "The survey
results show that there is mutual responsibility and trust between
employers and employees. A large majority of employees are honest when
it comes to taking sick leave and few employers are so mistrusting of
their employees to resort to invasion checks."
Ms Lim added: "As
for the healthy 20 per cent who used illnesses to dodge work, they risk
jeopardising their jobs and careers. On the other hand, an overly
suspicious employer or manager that constantly checks on employees is
also detrimental to work relationships; few employees would tolerate
working for managers that do not trust them."
The survey also revealed that senior staff were less likely to take bogus medical leave.
Workers with gross salaries of over S$5,000 were least likely to fake an illness to go on medical leave.
- CNA/ck