Workplace absenteeism a minefield of lies: Study

A survey of 1,000 U.S. workers found that 96% have lied about their reasons for taking a sick day, and of those, only 27% regretted their fib and 41% said they’d do it again.

Of those who lied, 91% said they never get caught, according to the survey conducted by career blog Zety.com, which released its findings Wednesday.  

The most common lies are feeling sick (84%), family emergencies (65%), doctor’s appointment (60%) and family member’s death (31%), according to the survey.

And the older you get, the less likely you are to lie just to avoid coming to work: 56% of Gen Z said they’d lie to get out of work in the future, compared with 46% of Millennials, 37% of Generation X, and 27% of Baby Boomers.

So why all the lying? The survey also provided for open-ended answers, with “Has anything ever happened to you that made you skip work or leave early, but people found it hard to believe?” generating some interesting responses: “my rabbit had to be neutered,” “my horse died,”  and “my dog ate my hearing aid.”