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Young Swedish workers abuse sick leave: study
An increasing number of young Swedes are taking sick leave even when they are healthy, a new study has revealed.
Published: 03 Feb 2011 15:19 CET
Nearly one in five Swedes, or 29 percent, have taken sick leave despite feeling healthy. "Feeling tired" or "worn out" were the most common reasons and the sick leave takers were overwhelmingly born in the 1980s and 1990s, according to Manpower's work life survey conducted in conjunction with Kairos Future.
"In the case of younger workers' willingness to take sick leave despite feeling healthy, there are grounds for employers to create a work environment that motivates and engages the generations that are now entering the labour market," said Carina Riedler, CEO of Manpower Health Partners Manpower Sweden.
At the same time, slightly more than every other Swede goes to work despite being sick, the survey showed.
"The fact that so many managers work despite being sick raises questions about whether the standing requirements for availability, combined with slimmer organisations, resulting in absolutely no scope to take sick leave at the managerial level," said Riedler.
Those in their late teens and 20s living in Stockholm and working in customer service or office and administration took sick leave more often when healthy.
However, Stockholm managers in their 30s would probably often or always go to work despite illness. Among managers in general, 68 percent went to work sick, the survey showed.
The survey was also conducted in Norway, where 70 percent of respondents said that they go to work despite illness, compared with 56 percent in Sweden. In the case of healthy absences, the results were similar between the two countries.
The survey also looked at the work ethic of both countries. The Swedes came out on top, with a clear majority, or 78 percent, who answered that they felt morale is generally good in Sweden, while just over half of all Norwegians said the work ethic was good in Norway.
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Don't know how old you are but these generations are also the ones that have grown up with budget cuts and growing classes. They are also now facing the youth unemployment. I definitely think older generations had an easier time.
Does this mean that there's an average of one manager for every 2-3 employees? That's not very productive.
On another note: this is also the computer generation, who grew up used to getting instant results/satisfaction (click of the button), and when you go out in the real world you see that life doesn't work that way. I have heard about studies being made about this issue and the concern that these generations become totallly unprepared and therefore have trouble coping with life.
Note the wording here: while morale is necessarily a somewhat subjective thing to quantify, this survey result is fundamentally distorted by the biases of its respondents. During my six years of living here, I've often run into a prominent insecurity on the part of Swedes (especially those who have not spent significant time living abroad) to toe the "Svensk ?b?!" party line -- so no matter what they actually think in private, the public answer is invariably "everything is A-OK!"
This type of survey would be a lot more meaningful if it were possible to design it to quantify morale in some less subjective way.
so many black sheeps that one white sheep who is honest seems dishonest.