Four in five Gen Z workers admit pulling a sickie in the past year, almost twice the rate of over-55s

Almost half of 18-to-29-year-olds are reportedly experiencing a 'quarter-life crisis', with uncertainty about future opportunities cited among pressures facing younger workers.

A Merlin Strategy poll of 2,123 workers, conducted for the Centre for Social Justice, found that 82 per cent of under-25s took at least one unjustified sick day last year, nearly double the 43 per cent recorded among 55-to-64-year-olds. Close to four in ten under-25s admitted faking illness on five or more separate occasions, a rate ten times higher than among older workers. The CSJ called the generational divide "striking" and said older workers demonstrate considerably stronger workplace commitment. Participants were asked whether they had told their employers they were unwell when their symptoms were not actually severe enough to stop them working.

More than half of under-25s pointed to social factors — late nights and hangovers among them — as reasons for their absences, versus 19 per cent of older workers.

Over half of young workers also acknowledged using sick days to attend job interviews or take on other work, according to the poll.

Some 77 per cent of younger workers said they had taken a 'mental-health day', compared with fewer than half of those aged 55 to 64.

The IndependentGen Z workers more likely to pull a sickie than older employees, new poll suggests New York PostGen Z twice as likely as older workers to call out sick — even when they’re not - New York Post NewswavThe generation most likely to pull a sick day - Newswav

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