Sickness notifications heading for an annual record
The year is not yet over, but health insurance company forecasts point to a record number of days of absence: On average, each employee would take well over 20 days off work in 2023. Even Generation Z is not making a dent in the statistics - on the contrary.
Germany is heading for record numbers of sick days this year. This is according to data from the health insurance companies with the largest number of members, which is available to the "Rheinische Post". According to DAK-Gesundheit, the sickness rate in the third quarter was 5 percent, above the already very high level of 4.7 percent in the same period last year. On average, every DAK-insured employee had almost five days off work in the quarter, even though there was no summer flu epidemic and the coronavirus infection rate had almost come to a standstill.
Even though the health insurance fund did not yet have final figures for October, DAK board member Andreas Storm predicted peak values by the end of the year. "Based on our analysis, we assume that in 2023, for the first time in many years, we will have a total of well over 20 days of absence per employee per year," Storm told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
The other health insurance funds with the largest number of members in the country have also recently recorded high sickness rates among their insured members. Techniker Krankenkasse registered a sickness rate of 5.10 percent in the first ten months of the year. In the same period last year, the figure was similar at 5.17 percent. TK CEO Jens Baas: "Our evaluations show that the sickness rate among TK-insured employees in the first ten months of the year is above average. Although it is below the previous year's figure for the same period, it is at a similarly high level - significantly higher than before coronavirus," said Baas. Most days of absence were due to colds such as flu, flu-like infections or bronchitis, followed by mental health diagnoses and musculoskeletal illnesses such as back pain.
Young employees often suffer from mental illnesses
Barmer has also recently recorded an increase in sickness rates. In the first ten months of 2023, around six million insured persons entitled to sick pay were on sick leave at least once. "This corresponds to an increase of around ten percent compared to the same period last year," the health insurance company announced. However, one of the reasons for the increase in reports of incapacity to work is the introduction of the electronic reporting procedure, which provides a more accurate picture of actual sickness rates. According to Barmer, however, the effect on the number of sick notes cannot be clearly quantified.
Data from AOK Rheinland/Hamburg for the year 2022 indicates that the under-30s also have enormous absenteeism rates. The Institute for Workplace Health Promotion (BGF) analyzed data from more than 300,000 working insured persons between the Rhine and Ruhr with a maximum age of 29 years. According to the health insurance company, what is striking about Generation Z is the increasing number of days of absence due to mental stress. According to the institute, every working person under the age of 30 was absent from work for around 19 calendar days that year.
Statutory health insurance companies like AOK and Barmer GEK are seeing record-high sickness rates among their members. In 2023, AOK Rheinland/Hamburg predicted that employees under their coverage may take over 20 days off work due to illness on average. According to Barmer, mental health issues are a significant cause of absences among young employees, with Generation Z having particularly high rates of mental stress-related absences.
Source: www.ntv.de
