According to an evaluation by the DAK-Gesund health insurance company, sickness absences from work have been at a significantly higher level for the second year in a row. Employees were absent from work for an average of 20 days in 2023, as the fund determined based on its own insured data. The sickness rate once again reached the record high of 5.5 percent as in 2022. An average of 55 out of 1,000 employees were on sick leave every day last year.
Treasurer Andreas Storm told the German Press Agency: “Even if the result does not come as a surprise after the waves of colds in spring and autumn, it is alarming for the economy.” The high level of absenteeism affects the work processes of many companies and authorities, especially when staffing levels become increasingly thin due to a shortage of skilled workers. Long-term cases are the biggest problem. What is needed is an “offensive for company health management”.
Cough, runny nose, etc.
The DAK explained that the main reasons for the many failures last year were respiratory diseases such as colds, bronchitis and flu. There has also been an increase in mental illnesses. The sickness rate of 5.5 percent is the highest value since the analyzes began 25 years ago. In previous years it had been in the region of 4 percent.
Most days of absence in 2023 were due to colds. They caused 415 days of absence per 100 insured people. Musculoskeletal diseases such as back pain led to 373 days of absence per 100 insured people and mental illnesses such as depression led to 323 days of absence. Sick notes in connection with the coronavirus played a smaller role: the number of days of absence caused by this per 100 insured people fell to around 51, after there had been 130 days of absence in 2022. In 2021 there were 22 days of absence per 100 insured people.
For the analysis, the Berlin Iges Institute evaluated data from 2.4 million employed DAK insured people in Germany.
High sickness rates in geriatric care
Almost two thirds of employees had at least one sick note in the past year. At DAK, 35.5 percent were not reported to be unfit for work at all. When viewed by occupation, sickness rates were particularly high in geriatric care (7.4 percent) and among daycare workers (7 percent) – and lowest in IT and communications technology at 3.7 percent.
There were similar developments among those insured by the commercial health insurance company. Here, sick leave rose by 0.2 points to 6.6 percent. The average absence per case fell from 13.1 to 11.7 days – meaning more shorter sick notes were submitted. Absences were at “the highest level”: they amounted to 2,392 days per 100 members. Last year there were 2,346.
KKH industrial psychologist Antje Judick said, according to the announcement, that it is important that employees protect themselves and are protected at work – for example through hygiene rules, vaccinations or more work at home. Frequent and long absences from work meant a heavy additional burden for the remaining colleagues if they had to pick up lost work. There is a risk of a domino effect with further sickness reports.
