There are plenty of valid guesses for the most called-off day of the year by American workers – anytime around Christmas, the day after the Super Bowl, St. Patrick’s Day, the Friday before a long weekend. And no doubt, millions of people are calling those days off, but the actual most called-off day in the United States is… kind of baffling.
Want to know what it is?
August 24th.
That’s right, a seemingly random day that could fall at any time; this is the point where most American workers collectively say, “You know what? I could use a day.”
According to a study from Flamingo Leave Tracker that surveyed roughly 300 businesses and more than 10,000 employees, an average 0.9 percent of those people were out sick on August 24th, which ended up being a higher percentage than any other day of the year. The reasons for being out sick ranged from stomach bugs – including the wonderfully colorful symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea – in addition to COVID-related sickness and a litany of different injuries. Stomach bugs led the way as the most common sick-leave reason at 54 percent.
Additionally, payroll software Paycor has seen a notable increase in workers staying home with anxiety or stress-related conditions, which accounted for nearly 9 percent of sick leaves in this survey.
So it’s a wide range of sick day reasons, but the fact remains most of them fell on August 24th. Why is that?
There are a few plausible reasons why everyone in the U.S. wants to take off this random August day, one of which being the start of a new school year. Something tells me many parents are getting sick in the first few weeks as their kids bring home an army of new germs after once again interacting with kids in a room all day long.
Other possibilities are a little more speculative. Are people looking to take one more summer day off before fall truly begins to rear its beautifully colored, slightly chillier head? Maybe people just want to get in another four-day week ahead of Labor Day. Or maybe people have completely forgotten to take some days off to this point of the year and are catching up.
Ultimately, nobody really knows why August 24th is such a prime day for work absences. It’s a bit of a mystery, but what’s not surprising is that February is indeed the sickest month of the year, with April and December close on its heels.
