Look Around HR

In today’s workplace it seems there is a mix of policies with regard to PTO. Some companies break it into different categories such as sick time, vacation time, and personal time. Others give you one lump sum and let you take it if you are at the doctor’s or the beach. I prefer the latter, if for no other reasons, because it makes it easier for HR and managers to track. If you are going to give your employee 20 days off a year- let them use it how they want to if scheduling permits (that’s just my opinion).

The reason I am talking about this…Because CareerBuilder.com has a list of the best excuses for calling in sick that I think will make you laugh this Friday. Here is the list:

1. At her sister’s wedding, an employee chipped her tooth on a Mint Julep, bent over to spit it out, hit her head on a keg and was knocked unconscious.
2. While at a circus, a tiger urinated on the employee’s ear, causing an ear infection.
3. An employee’s dog wasn’t feeling well, so the employee tasted the dog’s food and then got sick.
4. “Someone put LSD in my salad.”
5. An employee’s roommate locked all his clothes in a shed for spite.
6. “Stuck on an island – canoe floated away.”
7. An employee was upset because his favorite American Idol contestant was voted off.
8. “I didn’t think I had to come in if I had time in my vacation bank. I thought I could take it whenever I wanted.”
9. An employee said he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to rest up for the company’s holiday party that night.
10. A groundhog bit the employee’s car tire, causing it to go flat.

Some of these are pretty funny and I am not sure how I would react if I actually heard someone try to get away with this. According to the story, 67 percent of employers require a doctor’s note when an employee calls in sick, 35 percent have checked up on their employees, and 14 percent have paid the employees a house visit.

I say alleviate the headache on everyone and give one flat PTO amount.