The time-honoured tradition of the Great Australian Sickie
We have many things to be proud of in Australia. We punch above our weight in areas such as sports, science and the arts, and our natural environment is unique in the world. However, there is another area in which we are leaders on the global stage; This is how we use sick leave.
The ‘Great Australian Sickie’ is a long-established tradition that most working Australians will be familiar with.
The day before said patient, you will usually gently let them know that you are starting to feel a sore throat or headache coming on (real or imagined). Then you wake up the next morning, turn around and send your manager a text, email or chat message saying you’re not feeling well. That’s all you have to do before falling back asleep and trying to recover from your new day off.
Full-time Australian workers are entitled to 10 days of sick leave per year, or about one day per month if any of them meet the full quota. We also love patients, especially compared to other countries.
In Statista Consumer Insights’ survey of thousands of people around the world a few months ago, Australia topped all the countries it ranked; 87 per cent of Australians said they had taken some form of sick leave in the past 12 months, compared to 75 per cent of US and UK respondents and just 47 per cent of South Korean workers.
Some countries, such as Germany, are trying to rein in sick leave rights; The latest changes mean German workers must now obtain a doctor’s certificate in person on the first day of their illness, as part of sweeping productivity changes.
While many Australians benefit from our culture of accepted sick leave, its benefits are not evenly distributed.
But when you zoom out, our tendency to call in more patients than other countries has a wide range of benefits for individuals, society and the workplace. On a personal level, being able to stay home at the first sign of feeling unwell means illnesses are shorter and recovery more comfortable.
For society, numerous studies have shown that the availability of paid sick leave reduces pressure on the healthcare system and means people are less likely to visit the emergency room.
Benefits to workplaces range from less spread of disease among colleagues to reduced staff turnover, higher productivity, and even a direct correlation between paid sick leave in the workplace and fewer non-fatal occupational injuries.
But while many Australians benefit from our accepted sick leave culture, its benefits are not evenly distributed, varying widely depending on a variety of factors. Recent research conducted by the University of Technology Sydney has shown that the decision to take sick leave is heavily influenced by pay, job security and gender.
They found that temporary and fixed-term Australian workers took an average of three fewer sick days each year than permanent workers.
The most consistent finding in their research was a significant gender difference; Men took 23 percent less sick leave than women. The authors theorized that this may reflect different health needs, caring responsibilities and likelihood of seeking medical care, as well as gendered expectations about ‘toughness’ in dealing with illness.
Taking paid sick leave when you are feeling unwell should be encouraged, normalized and encouraged for all genders, employment types and workers. Every time we ‘soldier on’ and push forward when our bodies need rest, we send the wrong message to everyone around us.
The more equally we benefit from the Great Australian Sickie, the healthier we will be as a country.
Tim Duggan is the author of: Korc Backward: The revolutionary way to work smarter and live better. He writes a regular newsletter timduggan.substack.com.
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Tim Duggan is the author of Working Backward, Cult State, and Killer Thought. He is one of the founders of Junkee Media and writes a monthly newsletter called OUTLET.
