German business executives have warned that high levels of sick leave are undermining the competitiveness of Europe’s largest economy and exacerbating its economic woes.
According to Techniker Krankenkasse, the country’s largest public health insurance company, workers missed an average of 19.4 days due to illness in 2023.
TK told the Financial Times that preliminary figures suggest the trend will continue to trend upward, adding to the challenges for an economy that many expect will contract for the second year in a row in 2024. He said it is making things worse.
Although it is notoriously difficult to compare data across countries, OECD employment expert Christopher Prinz said Germany is “undoubtedly among the top countries” when it comes to sick leave.
The issue is hitting manufacturing, where soaring energy prices, labor shortages and stifling bureaucracy have driven growth for decades, and sparking a debate over the future of the country’s economic model.
An executive at a blue-chip manufacturer lamented that there is “no progress” in understanding the sacrifices necessary to remain prosperous and competitive, especially among some “work-hating” younger employees.
“And everyone will wonder why Germany is the sick man of Europe,” he said.
Paul Niederstein, co-owner and chief executive of Coating, a steel galvanizing business with about 600 employees in Germany and 900 elsewhere, said the high absenteeism rate means the workforce is “spoiled.” “It’s a sign of being too confident,” he said. .
a study A report published in January by industry group the Association of German Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) found that without the country’s higher-than-average number of sick days, Germany’s economy would have grown by 0.5% last year; He said he should have done so. than 0.3% shrinkage.
Klaus Michelsen, author of the study, said high rates of illness were exacerbating the shortage of skilled workers.
In September, leaders at Elon Musk’s electric car maker Tesla sought to address high rates of illness by conducting unannounced home visits to check on absentee workers at a factory near Berlin. .
Although few German executives support such a controversial approach, many companies have deep concerns about this trend.
Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, recently claimed that sick leave in German production can be twice as high as in other countries, despite the same conditions.
“As an employer, we do a lot to support people, from occupational safety and ergonomic work processes to health advice, flu shots and resilience training. ” he told Der Spiegel. “But all aspects are needed to achieve improvement here.”
TK data shows that in addition to the post-coronavirus surge in respiratory illnesses, the biggest change is due to a surge in mental health cases since the turn of the millennium.
Criticism is mounting over a pandemic-era rule that allows patients to receive medical records from their doctors over the phone without an in-person visit.
In September, Finance Minister Christian Lindner called for it to be abolished, saying there was a “correlation between annual sick leave in Germany and the introduction of this measure.” The country’s general practitioner association pushed back this week, arguing the move was a rare success in efforts to reduce bureaucracy in the health system.
But Gerd Roeders, who runs a 200-year-old family business that supplies parts to the auto, aviation and pharmaceutical industries, said it was too easy for workers to be fired for being sick by doctors. He indicated that the first three days of sickness absence could be unpaid. “I don’t want to seem like an asshole, but it might make people think twice,” he said.
Even before the pandemic, sick leave rates were among the highest in the developed world.
According to OECD data on sickness absence compensation compiled from sources such as the Ministry of Health and health insurance companies, Germany’s absence rate will be 22.4 days per year in 2022, the highest in the group of developed countries, according to the latest available data. It has been shown to be the highest of all.
Prinz said the OECD’s Labor Force Survey allows for better comparisons because it is self-reported by workers, and Germany ranks seventh, behind countries such as Norway, Finland, Spain and France. It states that 6.8% of workers’ normal weekly working hours are lost to workers. Sickness absenteeism.
The OECD study did not provide figures for the UK, which has the least generous statutory sick pay system in the developed world. Sickness absenteeism has also increased in the UK since the pandemic, but at much lower levels. Latest UK data shows the absenteeism rate will be 2.6 per cent in 2022, up from 2 per cent in 2019.
In Germany, all employees are entitled by law to six weeks of sick leave per year at full pay. If an employee becomes ill while on vacation and secures a doctor’s note to prove it, they can take back their vacation days and use them on another day.
Prinz said Germany’s policy may be well designed. “We want people who are sick to take sick leave. There is a strong argument that sickness plans actually help productivity, health and labor market participation.”
Hans-Jürgen Urban, director of IG Metall, the country’s largest industrial trade union, said high levels of sick leave in companies should be seen as a “warning signal” of potential pressure on workers. Ta. “Those who complain of high absenteeism rates should look for the root cause in the workplace itself.”
German workers also suffered a big hit in real wages following the pandemic, the global energy shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing high inflation.
Wages have caught up quickly this year despite the weak German economy, but remain below pre-pandemic levels after adjusting for inflation.
Andreas Tautz, chief medical officer of DHL Group, which has around 600,000 employees worldwide and 220,000 in Germany, stressed that Germany “remains one of the most productive countries”. [in the world]”.
However, the outlook is less optimistic when it comes to productivity growth, which turned negative last year.
Coating’s Niederstein said it was important for companies to be self-critical, warning that high disease rates could reflect poor culture and leadership.
But workers are also “not going to understand” the pressures companies are under, he added, and “they’re not going to understand what’s going on in Mexico or Turkey or other countries.”
“Germany needs to be less arrogant and reflect the competitive international business environment,” he said.
Additional reporting by Valentina Romei and Delphine Strauss. Data visualization by Janina Conboye
https://www.ft.com/content/8e7bc450-7dc7-45c2-82ed-99ab2a8c4952