Boss Calling A Sickie

Next time your boss chucks a sickie, be sure to ask for a doctor's note. A new study has found most managers take sick days when they're not ill. The study, by management expert James Adonis, found 18 per cent of managers took a fake sickie every few months and 2 per cent took one every month.

Adonis said managers who chucked sickies often struggled to juggle their work life and home life. "Work life balance, the pressures of the job, they have so much responsibility - these are some of the reasons why managers will take a sickie," he said. "They say they need a day off, not because they're sick, but just because they want to chill out."

Murdoch University organisational psychologist Dr Max Scully said it was important to recognise the day-to-day stresses managers faced. Sometimes managers needed to take a day to recuperate, he said. "I would be quite cautious about making assumptions about that behaviour being negative or unwanted, because of the issues associated with managers ... and the particular stresses that some of them face." But managers should be careful about the way they took time off, because their employees could follow suit.

"Management behaviour tends to be reflected in employee behaviour," Scully said. "If you saw your boss doing something, whether it's taking leave or behaving or talking in a certain way, in effect, it legitimises your use of that same behaviour."