Health
Gen Z employees are taking more sick days than previous generations — here's why
Sick days have taken on a whole new meaning.
As Generation Z employees enter the workforce, paid sick days — allotted by a majority of companies — are being used more than ever.
Approximately 30% of employees took sick leave in the first 10 months of 2023 — up 42% from 2019, according to the HR platform Gusto, which is used by more than 300,000 U.S. businesses.
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The average amount of time taken off for sick leave has also increased by 15% since 2019, reaching an average of 15.5 hours per year.
Another HR platform, Dayforce, reported a 55% increase in sick leave during the same time frame, based on its users’ activity.
Among white-collar workers, Dayforce saw a 42% spike in sick leave since 2019.
Sick leave jumped 42% from 2019 to 2023, according to HR platform Gusto. (iStock)
Workers ages 25 to 34 years old were the most likely to take advantage of these benefits, according to Gusto’s data.
“This younger generation is now the most likely to take time away from work to rest and recover from an illness — a sign of a generational shift in the attitude that employees have about taking time off to protect their health,” Gusto reported last year.
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Jake Canull, regional director of the Top Employers Institute in New York, reacted to this data in a response sent to Fox News Digital.
Top Employers, in new research, found that regardless of age, “sick days are encouraged by employers to prevent and recover from illness,” Canull said.
Gen Z is “now the most likely to take time away from work to rest and recover from an illness,” according to Gusto, an HR platform. (iStock)
Many companies with high levels of employee engagement have created initiatives to raise awareness of mental and emotional health, the expert noted.
These same companies are 14% more likely to discourage people from working overtime and 9% more likely to encourage them to take stress-relieving breaks during the workday, Canull added.
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Gen Z employees are less likely to work in independent and self-directed workspaces — as they value human contact and collaboration, he said.
“They tend to prioritize safer and healthier workplaces over growth and development opportunities.”
America’s youngest workers also prioritize their own well-being, he mentioned, and are “very community-focused.”
“They tend to [avoid] infecting their colleagues by staying home,” Canull told Fox News Digital.
“Generally, they tend to prioritize safer and healthier workplaces over growth and development opportunities.”
Seventy-eight percent of Gen Z workers believe the workplace should build community, social connections and belonging, a survey found. (iStock)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and NYU Langone clinical professor of medicine, told Fox News Digital that it “would be nice” to think that an additional use of sick days is due to people being more conscious of spreading infection since the pandemic.
“But I don’t believe that’s the case,” he said. “If anything, post-COVID fatigue has led to fewer precautions, including to COVID, which is now spreading widely again.”
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The doctor presumed that rising sick days are more associated with burnout at work, scarcity of rewards and lack of commitment to careers — especially among younger people.
“People are more likely to game the system or require mental health days because of growing anxiety and depression in our society,” Siegel theorized.
“Some people just feel like providing more balance in their lives between work and play.”
Rising sick days could be due to burnout at work, lack of rewards and lack of commitment to careers, one doctor suggested. (iStock)
Dr. Kyle Elliott, a career coach based in California, agreed that Gen Z employees prioritize work-life balance.
“It’s easier to take a sick day when you find meaning and purpose beyond your work and career,” Elliott told Fox News Digital.
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Gen Z workers have also recognized that sick days aren’t solely reserved for physical illness, according to the expert.
“They can also be used when you’re coping with stress or burnout — and you don’t have to provide your employer with a detailed reason for why you’re using your sick time,” Elliott said.
Sixty-two percent of Gen Z respondents would be willing to accept a lower salary in return for a better work-life balance.
“Gen Z workers are demonstrating that it doesn’t hurt to take a day or two off when you’re feeling mentally worn down or exhausted — and it can pay off in the long run if you recover quicker.”
Elliott suggested that America’s youngest employees are learning there is “more to life than work” and “little benefit in working when you’re sick.”
Members of Gen Z are learning that there is “more to life than work,” one workplace wellness expert said. (iStock)
New and exclusive data from the Top Employers Gen Z survey revealed that 81% of young workers believe their employers have a responsibility to support the physical well-being of their employees.
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Meanwhile, 83% agree that employers are responsible for supporting their employees’ psychological well-being.
Also, 62% of Gen Z respondents would be willing to accept a lower salary in return for a better work-life balance, according to the survey.
Gen Z workers encouraged fostering supportive work environments, as 78% said the workplace should build community, social connections and belonging — and 75% stated that having fun at work is important.
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What if your New Year’s resolution could fit inside a tote bag? Social media users are trying the “analog bag” trend, replacing phones with offline activities.
The trend is widely credited to TikTok creator Sierra Campbell, who posted about her own analog bag — containing a crossword book, portable watercolor set, Polaroid camera, planner and knitting supplies — and encouraged followers to make their own.
Her video prompted many others to share their own versions, with items like magazines, decks of cards, paints, needlepoint and puzzle books.
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“I made a bag of non-digital activities to occupy my hands instead of the phone,” said Campbell, adding that the practice has significantly cut her screen time and filled her life with “creative and communal pursuits that don’t include doom-scrolling.”
“I created the analog bag after learning the only way to change a habit is to replace it with another,” she told Fox News Digital.
Social media users are trying the “analog bag” trend, replacing phones with offline activities like cameras, notebooks and magazines. (Fox News Digital)
The science of healthier habits
Research on habit formation supports the idea of the analog bag, according to Dr. Daniel Amen, a California-based psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics.
“Your brain is a creature of habit,” Amen said during an interview with Fox News Digital. “Neurons that fire together wire together, meaning that every time you repeat a behavior, whether it’s good or bad, you strengthen the neural pathways that make it easier to do it again.”
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Studies show that habits are automatic responses to specific cues — such as boredom, stress or idle time — that typically deliver some kind of reward, according to the doctor. When no alternative behavior is available, people tend to fall back on the same routine, often without realizing it.
Research suggests that replacing an old habit with a new one tied to the same cue is more effective than trying to suppress the behavior altogether.
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“[When] cutting out coffee — you need to have another drink to grab for, not just quit cold turkey. It’s how the pathways in our brains work,” Campbell said.
By substituting a different routine that still provides stimulation and engagement, people can gradually weaken the original habit and build a new automatic response.
Substituting another activity instead of scrolling on your phone can help quell the impulse to reach for it. (iStock)
“Simply stopping a behavior is very challenging,” Amen said. “Replacing one habit with something that is better for your brain is much easier. That’s how lasting change happens, one step at a time.”
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If alternatives are within arm’s reach, people will be more likely to use them, the doctor said. “Your brain does much better with small, simple actions than big, vague intentions.”
Instead of saying, “I’ll stop scrolling today,” the doctor recommends choosing a small habit you can do in a few moments in specific situations, like knitting 10 rows of a scarf on your commute or reading a few pages of a book while waiting at the doctor’s office.
“If alternatives are within arm’s reach, you’re more likely to use them,” a brain doctor said. “Your brain does much better with small, simple actions than big, vague intentions.” (iStock)
Campbell shared her own examples of how to use an analog bag. At a coffee shop with friends, she said, she might pull out a crossword puzzle and ask others to help with answers when the conversation lulls.
Instead of taking dozens of photos on her phone, she uses an instant camera, which limits shots and encourages more intentional moments.
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In casual outdoor settings, such as a park or winery, she brings a small watercolor set for a quick creative outlet.
“It’s brought so much joy,” Campbell said of the analog bag trend, “seeing how it resonates with so many.”
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A deadly, drug-resistant fungus already spreading rapidly through U.S. hospitals is becoming even more threatening worldwide, though there may be hope for new treatments, according to a new scientific review.
Candida auris (C. auris), often described as a “superbug fungus,” is spreading globally and increasingly resisting human immune systems, Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) researchers said in a review published in early December.
The findings reinforce prior CDC warnings that have labeled C. auris an “urgent antimicrobial threat” — the first fungal pathogen to receive that designation — as U.S. cases have surged, particularly in hospitals and long-term care centers.
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Approximately 7,000 cases were identified across dozens of U.S. states in 2025, according to the CDC, and it has reportedly been identified in at least 60 countries.
Candida auris is a drug-resistant fungus spreading in hospitals worldwide. (Nicolas Armer/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
The review, published in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, helps explain why the pathogen is so difficult to contain and warns that outdated diagnostics and limited treatments lag behind. It was conducted by Dr. Neeraj Chauhan of the Hackensack Meridian CDI in New Jersey, Dr. Anuradha Chowdhary of the University of Delhi’s Medical Mycology Unit and Dr. Michail Lionakis, chief of the clinical mycology program at the National Institutes of Health.
Their findings stress the need to develop “novel antifungal agents with broad-spectrum activity against human fungal pathogens, to improve diagnostic tests and to develop immune- and vaccine-based adjunct modalities for the treatment of high-risk patients,” the researchers said in a statement.
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“In addition, future efforts should focus on raising awareness about fungal disease through developing better surveillance mechanisms, especially in resource-poor countries,” they added. “All these developments should help improve the outcomes and prognosis of patients afflicted by opportunistic fungal infections.”
Candida auris can survive on skin and hospital surfaces, allowing it to spread easily. (iStock)
First identified in 2009 from a patient’s ear sample in Japan, C. auris has since spread to dozens of countries, including the U.S., where outbreaks have forced some hospital intensive care units to shut down, according to the researchers.
The fungus poses the greatest risk to people who are already critically ill, particularly those on ventilators or with weakened immune systems. Once infected, about half of patients may die, according to some estimates.
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Unlike many other fungi, C. auris can survive on human skin and cling to hospital surfaces and medical equipment, allowing it to spread easily in healthcare settings.
“It is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and it tends to spread in hospital settings, including on equipment being used on immunocompromised and semi-immunocompromised patients, such as ventilators and catheters,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone, previously told Fox News Digital.
Scientists say the unique cell wall structure of C. auris makes it harder to kill. (iStock)
It is also frequently misdiagnosed, delaying treatment and infection control measures.
“Unfortunately, symptoms such as fever, chills and aches may be ubiquitous, and it can be mistaken for other infections,” Siegel said.
In September, he said intense research was ongoing to develop new treatments.
Only four major classes of antifungal drugs are currently available, and C. auris has already shown resistance to many of them. While three new antifungal drugs have been approved or are in late-stage trials, researchers warn that drug development has struggled to keep pace with the fungus’s evolution.
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Despite the sobering findings, there is still room for cautious optimism.
The fungus can cling to skin and hospital surfaces, aiding its spread. (iStock)
In separate research published in December, scientists at the University of Exeter in England discovered a potential weakness in C. auris while studying the fungus in a living-host model.
The team found that, during infection, the fungus activates specific genes to scavenge iron, a nutrient it needs to survive, according to their paper, published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Biology in December.
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Because iron is essential for the pathogen, researchers believe drugs that block this process could eventually stop infections or even allow existing medications to be repurposed.
“We think our research may have revealed an Achilles’ heel in this lethal pathogen during active infection,” Dr. Hugh Gifford, a clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter and co-author of the study, said in a statement.
New research is underway to develop better treatments and diagnostics for C. auris. (iStock)
As researchers race to better understand the fungus, officials warn that strict infection control, rapid detection and continued investment in new treatments remain critical.
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Health experts emphasize that C. auris is not a threat to healthy people.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the CDI researchers and additional experts for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed reporting.
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