Absenteeism due to flu reaches peak levels in January

The number of reports of illness reached its highest point of the flu season so far in January, that was reported by occupational health and safety service providers ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, both part of HumanTotalCare and jointly serving around 1 million employees.The first month of the year had 85 per 1000 employees call in sick. The previous months, it varied from 55 employees in September to 83 per 1000 employees in November of 2023. The increase is related to the rise in flu cases, but according to the Occupational Health and Safety Service, the peak has now reached.

The number of people calling in sick due to having the flu increased from the second week in January. Most employees who reported ill could return to work within a week. There was a drop in the amount of flu cases from the end of January. Therefore, the average absenteeism in January fell slightly and amounted to 5 percent compared to 5,1 percent in December 2023.

The average absenteeism shows significant differences between big and small companies and different sectors. In January, the average absenteeism rate in SMEs was 4.6 percent, while for companies with 250 employees or more, this was 5.8 percent. In addition, the occupational health and safety services see that the differences between sectors remain large. The healthcare industry and transport and storage sectors had the highest absenteeism rate in January.