Amsterdam moves to cut sick leave for municipal employees after absenteeism reaches 9.7%

Amsterdam is moving to sharply curb elevated sick leave among municipal employees after absenteeism reached 9.7 percent last year, far above the national average of 6.7 percent, Mayor Femke Halsema and Alderman Hester van Buren said in a plan sent to the city council. To curb absenteeism, the city will allocate 9 million euros this year, followed by 8 million euros annually through 2030, for a total investment of 40 million euros.

The plan targets 17 municipal directorates employing more than 250 civil servants each where sick leave exceeds 8 percent, a level the city describes as “exceptionally high.” Those directorates account for 60 percent of all municipal employees, while their absenteeism represents 70 percent of total sick leave across the organization.

The city will intensively supervise the affected directorates and expand training for managers to prevent absenteeism and speed employees’ return to work after illness. Workers will be guided back into their original roles or reassigned elsewhere within the municipality when necessary.

“The goal is to bring municipality-wide absenteeism back to the sector average of currently 6.7 percent,” Halsema and Van Buren wrote. A separate program is already in place for departments with sick leave between 6 percent and 8 percent.