My powers have been low the past few days. Scratchy cough, runny nose, generally out of sorts, nothing alarming just a typical winter lurgy, most likely picked up on a recent overnight plane trip back from Singapore.

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In days gone by, I might have been tempted to call in sick and take to my bed, bored and feeling guilty because it's only a head cold and I could have soldiered on.

Then again, if I'd rocked up to the office, I'd have been sniffling all day and clearing my throat. Unpleasant to have around, just like the bloke sitting next to me on the flight who did just that for seven hours and from whom I probably caught the cold.

The dividend for me of working from home is that I can soldier on and annoy no one apart from myself. It's probably why I haven't taken a single sick day in about five years. That and the good fortune of not being so unwell I couldn't fire up the laptop and belt out an Echidna.

Chucking a sickie used to be a grand Australian tradition. But not any more.

A poll conducted last year by People2people Recruitment showed 60 per cent of Australian workers only used three of the 10 sick days they're entitled to each year, up from 39 per cent in 2024. The proportion of people taking 10 or more sick days a year halved in the same period.

We're working through illness and, as result, probably staying unwell for longer and risking mental burnout. People2people Recruitment also discovered 53 per cent of Australian workers had taken time off for mental exhaustion. The right to disconnect is now enshrined in law but People2people found half of the survey respondents logged on out of hours once a week to catch up on work and one in five did so every night.

They say workplace culture, staff shortages, unrealistic KPIs, job insecurity all play a role in burnout. But I can't help suspecting external factors are also fuelling it.

Cost of living, housing, geopolitics, AI, climate, the presentation of news as a never-ending series of crises, social media all compete for our attention and weigh heavily. No wonder so many of us are........

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