Hangover Days are a new perk that some businesses are offering to their employees.  The perk is primarily aimed at single Millennials, and permits them to work from home on the day following a big night out.  Hangover Days are designed to promote a culture of honesty between employees and managers.

I have Hangover Days, except I call them Week Days.  When they are so bad that I am unable to get into work I call them Sick Days.  Honesty does not come into the equation.  Indeed, Sick Days are a long-established and well-recognised battle of wits between employee and manager of who can sound the most convincingly ill and who can sound the most convincingly sympathetic.  Deceit is a two-way street.  Unfortunately email and online sickness absence reporting forms have taken some of the cut and thrust fun out of this contest compared to when you had to actually phone in sick.  I would practice my ‘sick voice’ for hours.  It was a finely tweaked approximation of the same voice that I used to deploy when I was trying to convince my mum that I was too ill to go into school.

There is talk that Hangover Days should be rebranded because they may sound like they are promoting excessive drinking.  I think they should be rebranded because rather than being a benefit they are merely the start of a slippery slope.  After all, consider the scenario: You work for a business that permits Hangover Days.  So, what kind of serious shit are they going to think you are doing when you have to call in with an actual sickie?

© Beery Sue

Beery Sue feels a hangover coming on just reading this article.