Absenteeism due to illness down for the first time in nine years

The annual average absenteeism due to illness fell last year for the first time since 2014. In 2023, the absenteeism rate was 4.6 percent, compared to 4.7 percent in 2022. That was reported by the occupational health and safety service providers ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, both part of HumanTotalCare and jointly serving around 1 million employees.

After several years in which the coronavirus had a major impact on absenteeism, it is now time to shift the focus again to preventing employees from needing sick leave, according to the occupational health and safety service providers.

Jurriaan Penders, company doctor and director of medical affairs at HumanCapitalCare, said the usual seasonal trends in absenteeism returned in 2023. “We seem to be putting the strong increase of recent years behind us. With the right deployment of resources, we can try to maintain that decline. By being alert to stress-related complaints, long-term absenteeism can be prevented or shortened.”

The rising trend of long-term absenteeism due to psychological complaints continued in 2023. The prevention of psychological absenteeism will, therefore, remain an important point of attention for 2024. More than one in every five days of absenteeism was due to complaints related to stress. “Employers and employees both have a role to play in this,” said Penders.

In December, the number of sick reports decreased, partly due to the Christmas holidays. Absenteeism increased again after the holidays. According to Penders, there was no question of a “Blue Monday effect” around the third Monday in January. Monday is the day of the week on which most sick reports are received, with the peak in 2023 being on Monday, December 11. In the overview of Mondays with the most sick reports last year, Blue Monday was in 22nd place.