When the Federal Statistical Office reported in January, that the average number of sick days taken by workers in Germany was 15.1 in 2023, many businesses suggested that this was because people were skiving off work.
Germany is now the “world champion when it comes to sick days,” said Oliver Bäte, CEO of the Allianz insurance group.
Doctors, however, had a different take. “What I’m seeing in my practice these days is exactly what recent reports from health insurance companies have shown: More people are coming into my practice with acute infections,” Markus Beier, the federal chairman of Germany association of general practitioners, told DW. “To some extent, this is still the belated effect of the pandemic.”
Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, also sees increased infections as the main reason for the record number of sick people. “Playing sick does not happen on a large scale,” he said. Since the coronavirus pandemic, more people in general have been taking sick leave because of infectious diseases. During the two or three years of lockdown and infection prevention, preventing infection has taken on a different meaning.
“What is even more worrying is that more and more patients are suffering from mental illnesses and chronic pain,” Beier said. “These are often also very long-term illnesses.”
Aging workforce
Since December 2023, patients in Germany have been able to call their general practitioner to request sick leave for a maximum of five days.
“There is absolutely no basis for concluding that the high rate of sickness is linked to the ability to call in sick by telephone,” Beier said. “After all, this is only possible for people who are a registered patient in the practice they are calling, where their medical history is known. We are not seeing any significant levels of misuse.”
Reinhardt said the introduction of sick notes that can be sent electronically to employers and health insurance companies has contributed to the perceived increase in sick days in Germany. Previously, not all patients would submit their certificates to the health insurance companies, so not all sick notes were recorded.
“What we are seeing is that the average age of the population and the workforce is increasing,” Reinhardt said. “And with it comes an increase in the number of chronic illnesses and sick days.”
‘The right thing’
Bäte, the insurance CEO, recently proposed abolishing sick pay on the first day of symptoms. This could save €40 billion ($41 billion) per year, he claimed.
The proposal was met with a barrage of criticism. The German Trade Union Confederation warned of the associated costs and the risk of infection and accidents due to the increasing number of people reporting to work sick. The German Metal Workers’ Union described the proposal as outrageous and disastrous to accuse employees of playing sick.
Beier said being forced to work sick or go without pay would primarily affect people who can’t afford to lose a day’s wage.
Claus Michelsen, the chief economist for the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, said sick pay on the first day of symptoms was introduced to prevent people from coming to work ill. “The reason why the unpaid sick day was abolished in the 1970s was to prevent people from infecting their colleagues. That is essentially the right thing to do,” Michelsen explained.
Other countries are also seeking solutions as infections in the workplace become more widespread. This is why Michelsen recommends looking to Scandinavia: “In Sweden, for example, the partial sick leave model has been implemented successfully, which makes it possible to work from home in the case of minor illnesses, among other options.”
Spain and Greece don’t allow workers to collect sick pay on the first day of symptoms. Countries such as the USA, Canada, Japan, and South Korea do not have any universal sick pay. However, it is highly unlikely that Germany, which was one of the first countries in the world to introduce universal sick pay in 1884, will try to touch such a controversial topic. The law guarantees 100% of income for up to six weeks from the first day of illness.
“We should strengthen prevention as a building block of the health care system,” Michelsen said. “Early detection measures or even just attending classes for back pain can detect illnesses more quickly or alleviate the consequences.”
This article was originally written in German.
While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.
