Work boredom 8216;may be responsible for employees calling in sick8217;

Our results indicate that non-medical factors may have trigger effects on short-term sick leave, the researchers said.

One reason for the findings may be that employees are less satisfied with their jobs when theyre twiddling their thumbs,and so theyre less motivated to show up to work when feeling ill.

Another idea is that bosses might encourage their coughing and sneezing employees to stay home when the workload is light.

In addition,the findings may not be generalizable to people in all work fields 8212; employees in the study who worked for a manufacturing plant were more likely to have slow days than those who worked in the health care field or office workers.

The researchers said larger studies were needed to determine the effect of workload on employee sick days in different occupations.

The study involved 1,430 employees at six Swedish workplaces who were followed for three to 12 months. Of these,546 took a day off over the study period.

Employees were interviewed during their time off,and asked whether they had experienced a slow work day anytime during the two-week period prior to the sick day,and on the sick day itself.

The researchers said having a light workload was not common among participants. Of those who took sick leave,88 per cent said they had not experienced a slow work day in the two weeks leading up to their sick day.

They said this suggests that the effect of a light workload on taking sick leave,while real,may be quite small.