Work habits nobody puts on their CV

01The office bathroom has heard things

An Accountemps survey in 2018 found that 45% of workers had cried at work. Nearly half. The polished office culture suggests otherwise, but the numbers say it's one of the most normal things a person can do on a Tuesday.

02The sick day that wasn't

CareerBuilder found that 40% of workers had called in sick when they weren't. The fake cough, the quiet voice on the phone, the day spent catching up on sleep. It's common enough that most managers have probably done it too.

03Leaving free days on the table

Pew Research found in 2023 that about half of US workers with paid time off use all of it. The other half leave days unused, for reasons ranging from workload to guilt to simply forgetting.

The people who take every day tend to be quietly baffled by the ones who don't.

04Home is where the work is

In Owl Labs' remote work research, around half of workers said they'd take a pay cut to keep working from home. No commute, fewer interruptions and the freedom to wear pajamas below the camera line.

05The phone that never gets answered

Pew Research found in 2020 that only about one in five Americans always answer calls from unknown numbers. Most let them ring out and look it up later, which is what the scammers counted on anyway.

06Where do you land?

Chapter six of Cat Census is all about pretending to work. Answer one question at a time and a crowd of cats shows you exactly who's with you.

07Questions from the census

• Do you say yes to meetings you know are useless?
• Have you taken a sick day when you weren't sick?
• Have you cried at work?
• Do you answer calls from unknown numbers?
• Would you take a pay cut to work from home forever?
• Do you use all your vacation days?