Your Office May be Emptier Today

If you're lonelier than usual at your office Thursday, here's why: More workers tend to call in sick on August 24 than on any other workday in the year, according to Flamingo, a company that makes time-off management software.

August 24 has been coined "America's sickest day of the year," by Flamingo. A look at the calendar shows that date is suspiciously close to Labor Day and the waning days of summer vacation.

Flamingo said it did an in-depth analysis of sick leave data collected over the past five years from businesses across the U.S. The most common reason employees call out sick, 54%, is related to stomach bugs, with COVID accounting for 25%, while stress and anxiety make up 9% of sick days taken. 

In second place is February 13, which the study points out is “suspiciously” close to the Super Bowl — this year's was on February 12. And just in case you forget, Valentines Day is on February 14.

February also is the “sickest” month of the year, with an average of 10% of the workforce taking days off related to illness. While sick days are common in the workplace, 26% of workers aged 18 to 65 did not take a single day off due to illness in 2022. 

Some 15% of employees took two to three days off, the survey said, while 10 million people, 5%, called out sick more than 20 times.