The Employment Law Advisory Service (ELAS), which carried out the research, estimated today's absence will cost industry more than £30 million, taking into account factors such as lost business opportunities, reduced levels of service and output, and salary and overtime payments incurred.
Half of the 1,500 business leaders interviewed for the nationwide survey said they did not believe staff who complained of being ill.
Peter Mooney, head of consultancy at ELAS, said: "The traditional phone call was always a way for bosses to decipher whether staff members were bluffing or genuinely ill.
"But now, as our research shows, many employers are dispensing with it, which leads me to think that the system will be open to more abuse than ever.
"The cost to the economy could soar and that is the last thing we need as we are slowly crawling out of the deepest recession for generations.
"We need staff fit and healthy and willing to work hard to get business booming again. I do wonder if allowing them to text or email in sick is the most effective way of doing that.
"However our research also concluded that employers who accepted electronic forms of communication for sickness were also the ones who trusted their staff the most."
Pimlico Plumbers' HR Director Dominic Ceraldi, listed some of the most unusal absence excuses he has heard.
I got run over by a car three years ago and it weakened my bones. That's why when my dog banged into me, my tooth fell out.
I've swallowed a hot sausage last night and it's burnt my throat so bad I can't breathe properly.
My Granddad died in Spain, I went out there to visit my Grandma for the funeral, but she died whilst I was there, so I went and got drunk.
Me and my cousin were in the pub and we had an argument because he's a druggie. I was so mad I stormed out the bar and didn't look the right way when I was stepping out and I got run over by a car doing 70mph.
I've got a suspected broken back, the doctor said it's because I've done excessive painting.
My Dad couldn't get me into work because his moped broke down at the weekend
I bought a dog, it's a staffie-bull terrier cross, it's only four-months-old and it was in the front garden and it jumped the fence. It ran into the road and a police car knocked it over and killed it. I need the day off because I'm suing the police.
Ceraldi said: "I just couldn't make this stuff up, although I suspect some of these former employees might have done..."
Mooney added: "At least the dodgy excuses can give bosses something to laugh at but the reality is that absenteeism is a serious concern for modern business."
"And our research also showed that employers do not believe their staff are more likely to come into work ill because of fears over job security. In fact many believe workers use the stress of the economic collapse as an excuse to take more time off ill."