Why the day after Anzac Day looms as the most requested 'sickie' in Australia this year

Bosses are bracing for mass 'sickies' on Friday - with the sole working day between the Anzac Day public holiday and the weekend expected to witness a desertion of many workplaces.

Many Aussies are expected to start a four-day weekend on Thursday, and will most likely cite cold and flu symptoms as a reason to 'stay home' on Friday.

While vague physical illnesses are still the most common reason for days off, the co-founder of sick leave certificate app Sicky, Avinash Vazirani, said stress or the 'mental health day' is growing in popularity

He said last year's Anzac Day, which fell on a Monday, saw a 53 per cent jump over normal sick leave requests and it was reasonable to think that number would be even higher on Friday. 

Last year the day after Anzac Day saw over 50 per cent more people call in sick than usual (stock image)

'Our data suggests there will be a spike in people calling in sick – it's a common trend we see after every public holiday in the middle of the week, closely followed by the weekend,' Mr Vazirani said. 

'Quite often it's because our patients have over indulged or have interacted with infectious people while socialising.' 

Mr Vazirani said Mondays and Fridays were the most commonly requested sick days in any given week, with cold and flu the most frequent illnesses making up a third of absences.

Gastro and Covid were the next most common complaints, comprising 19 per cent each, follow by migraines (nine per cent) and stress-related insomnia (seven per cent).

However, the fast-growing reason to stay away from work was to take mental health days, which have climbed a staggering 233 per cent since Sticky was launched in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

Meanwhile a row has developed over public servants being given the right to work on Anzac Day and take the public holiday on another date that better suits them. 

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said allowing 350,000 Commonwealth employees the option of swapping Anzac Day for another day of leave was deliberately diluting the event's significance. 

Mr Joyce claimed the policy 'blind-sided' the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, who was not consulted.

Co-founder of sick leave certificate app Sicky, Avinash Vazirani, predicted there would be a surge of work absences on Friday

A row has broken out over Commonwealth public servants being given the option of working on Anzac Day and taking the hours off at another time

'This is another example of how veterans and their families are feeling the loss of their voice in Cabinet,' Mr Joyce said.

'Until Mr Albanese took office, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs sat at the Cabinet table. But not under Labor.'

Mr Joyce called on Prime Minister Albanese to revert to the former Coalition government's policy that ensured Anzac Day was recognised by the public service as a day of national remembrance.

However the assistant public service minister Patrick Gorman said the policy of swapping Anzac Day for another leave day had been policy for the most of the time the previous Coalition government was in office.

'The member for New England knows that for nine years of the Coalition government, there was flexibility to substitute days,' he said.