Funny leave excuses employees give

BANAGLORE, INDIA: It's no secret that many of us find parts of office life annoying, stressful and even counter-productive. A new Wakefield Research Study commissioned by Citrix details some of our top frustrations with modern work life. It also highlights the creative measures people are taking to avoid going in to the office and what they’re willing to sacrifice for the flexibility to work from home just one day a week, said a press release.

The survey of more than 1,000 American office workers was conducted in June 2012 by Wakefield Research. It reveals the following trends and reasons that workers feel they need a break from the office and how they would conduct business from home or on vacation.

Workplace Bonding Bombs: Almost three-quarters of office workers have at least one company event they secretly dislike; 34 per cent of office workers secretly dislike participating in costume contests followed by 31 per cent who say they dislike team-building activities. The most disliked office event for male co-workers is office baby showers (42 per cent) while female workers hate staff photos (31 per cent).

Office Stressors: While some find best friends at the office, we also have to work with difficult colleagues. Almost half (49 per cent) of respondents work with a “know-it-all” and 44 per cent work with a “whiner.” In fact, 51 per cent believe that a “constant complainer” would be the most annoying type of person to sit next to every day.

Bad Bosses: The No. 1 worst type of boss is a boss who steals our ideas (37 per cent), followed by a boss that knows it all (33 per cent). Twenty-seven per cent of office workers dislike bosses who ignore them. Thirty per cent of office workers say they’ve scheduled time off around their bosses’ vacation in order to maximize the time they won’t have to spend together. Thirty nine per cent of executive and manager-level workers admit to this move compared to 27 per cent of mid- and junior-level workers.

Leave Excuses: “I’m sick” continues to be a common excuse but office workers are getting especially creative about finding a way to avoid going in to the office. Here are just a few excuses according to survey respondents:

1. My bicycle ran out of gas
2. Gas is too expensive
3. I’m dieting
4. I drank too much and was too tired to come in
5. I’m having toenail issues
6. My numerologist told me not to come in
7. It’s Elvis’ birthday
8. Dog sprayed by a skunk
9. All my clothes are in the washer right now, I have nothing to wear
10. I had to see where my gardener was really planting everything that I wanted and paid for
11. Stumbled on the love of my life

What’s It Worth to You?: A majority of workers who have never worked remotely (64 per cent) identify at least one extremely popular perk or pleasure they’d be willing to give up in order to work from home just one day a week: lunch breaks (32 per cent), alcohol (25 per cent) and coffee (20 per cent).

Home Office Fashion: Nearly half (49 per cent) of those who have worked from home say they’re most likely to wear jeans and t-shirts when on the job — on the couch. Twenty-five per cent are most likely to work in their PJs while 7 per cent keep it simple — real simple — working from home in their underwear or birthday suit.

Reply vs. Ignore: Say you’re finally on vacation and everything is perfect — until that urgent work email arrives. Surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of office workers (72 per cent) say they would be more likely to respond immediately to the urgent work email than they would be to pretend they didn’t see it.

''This survey shows that companies will benefit by being more flexible in allowing employees to work from anywhere. Enabling people to blend their professional and personal lives can boost morale as well as productivity. And there are plenty of tools and technologies today that empower people to do their jobs from any location. That’s a win-win for companies and employees alike,'' said Kim DeCarlis, vice president of corporate marketing at Citrix.