Survey reveals the funniest reasons people call in sick after the work Christmas party

We’ve all been there – you have a few too many at the office Christmas party and have to struggle through work the next day.

What happens when we get carried away with the festivities however and are either too hungover or too embarrassed to drag ourselves in?

The UK’s largest indoor go-karting company, TeamSport has surveyed 1,000 workers in a bid to find out some of the best and the worst excuses UK workers have used when calling in sick the day after the work Christmas party.

A brave 60% of those who have called in sick were simply upfront about the fact they were too hungover to make it in. Others felt they had to get a little more creative with their stories and include some bizarre tales including:

• “I forgot to put the washing machine on so I have no clean clothes.”
• “I swallowed a spider so I can’t come in.”
• “I’ve bruised my brain.”
• “My ears are sore from the music at the party last night.”

While managers will have no doubt heard an array of bizarre excuses for why employees can’t make it into work, some of us prefer to stick to the more traditional excuses. Of those who were surveyed by TeamSport:

• 16% said they had managed to get food poisoning
• 11% said they felt sick
• 5% had suddenly picked up a stomach bug
• 3% couldn’t come in because their car had broken down

Interestingly, the survey also picked up on the fact that the real reason why people call in sick the day after the office Christmas party varies between the genders. 12% of women didn’t want to go in because they felt they had embarrassed themselves compared to just 6% of men who thought the same thing. 10% of women wanted to avoid an awkward run-in with a colleague they’d had an argument with the night before compared to 6% of men.

For the men, 23% said they needed time to recharge their batteries compared to 14% of women and 6% of men just couldn’t face work commitments such as meetings whereas only 2% of women called in sick for this reason.

The report also found that workers in certain industries are more likely to call in sick than others. The worst culprits were:

• Information Technology (24%)
• Business, consulting and management (19%)
• Creative arts and design (18%)
• Property and construction (12%)
• Engineering (12%)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, if you’re a London-based business, your employees are the most likely to call in sick the day after the office Christmas party. This is closely followed by workers in the West Midlands and the North West.

Have you ever called in sick the day after the office Christmas party? What excuse did you use? Feel free to share your stories with us below.