The primary reason for a sneaky sick day is dissatisfaction at work, but poor management and inflexibility also encourage them, confirms a Gallup poll. And what’s more 40 per cent of Australian workers feel vindicated by taking a day off every so often and tend to use it to recharge their batteries or deal with personal admin. Interestingly our attempts to cover up illegitimate sick days are based on our co-workers. We look at what our colleagues take and what they can get away with before the boss starts to question it and then work from that.