Google Searches for 'Believable' and 'Realistic' Excuses to Miss Work Are Way Up, Study Finds
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U.S. workers are looking for good reasons to stay home and to log off, according to a new study.
Frank Recruitment Group, a technology recruiting company in the United Kingdom, analyzed Google search engine traffic from 2018 and 2022 and released its findings on Tuesday.
According to the report, U.S.-based Google searches for excuses to miss work are at a five-year high and rose 630% during that time period.
The report found that phrases such as "believable excuses for missing work", "good excuses to miss work", and "realistic excuses for missing work" were all popular searches.
Frank Recruitment President of Americas Rowan O'Grady said that the findings seem to correlate with workers returning to a traditional office setting after remote work became more popular during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"This hasn't been the easiest transition for everybody," O'Grady said in the report. "The important thing, of course, is not to try and 'go back to normal' but to go forwards to a healthier tomorrow."
Similar findings were discovered in a paper published by Harvard Business School earlier this year.
The research revealed that coming into the office just one or two days a week may be ideal for many workers.
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Of everyone who participated, the group that came into their office one or two days a week ended up creating higher quality work when compared to the others, their managers told researchers.
While mentioning that past research has shown that full-time remote work can lead to isolation from colleagues, Harvard researchers said that "intermediate hybrid work" could be a "sweet spot" for employees.
