Absenteeism rate in the Netherlands has decreased in August: influx of new sick reports due to Covid-19 is drying up
Stay attentive to preventing absenteeism that results from high work pressure and stress.
Son – 22 September 2022. The average absenteeism rate in the Netherlands decreased in August to 4% compared to 4.5% in July 2022. This means the average absenteeism rate is almost the same as the pre-pandemic rate in August 2019. However, emotional-related absenteeism is slowly increasing. In the recent period, this was 10% higher than in the same period in 2019, according to figures of occupational health & safety services ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, which are both part of the HumanTotalCare group and jointly work for approximately 1 million employed persons and 63,000 employers. Considering the tight labour market, occupational health & safety services stress the importance of preventing absenteeism that results from high work pressure and stress.
Covid-19 has only a limited effect on absenteeism
After the unusual increase in July, the average absenteeism rate in the Netherlands is now 4% and just 0.2% higher than the normal absenteeism rate prior to the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019. “This difference is mostly explained by the absence of people with Long Covid,” says Jurriaan Penders, medical officer and director of medical affairs at HumanCapitalCare. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that the Covid pandemic is not completely over, but that the end is in sight. Penders: “Our figures also show that the number of new Covid-related sick reports continued to decrease in the past month and that Covid-19 hardly contributes anymore to the average absenteeism rate in the Netherlands.”
Absenteeism remains high in large companies, the healthcare and industrial sector
In August, similar to previous months, the industrial sector and the healthcare sector have maintained a higher absenteeism rate than was common prior to the pandemic, namely 4.7% and 5.6% respectively. Also, the absenteeism rate of SMEs—companies with less than 200 employees—was, as usual, lower than in large companies, namely 3.7% as opposed to 4.5%.
Increase in emotional-related absenteeism
ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare have observed that within the total amount of absenteeism, the share of emotional complaints (including stress and burn-outs) is 10% higher than in 2019. Despite the fact that this rate has been high for years, this increase is in line with the trend that the occupational health & safety services observed prior to Covid-19. Penders: “Approximately one third of the total long-term absenteeism rate is rooted in emotional causes. Two out of one thousand employees are annually diagnosed with a burn-out by the medical officer and are then absent for an average of 279 days. That is palpable, especially when we are already dealing with high work pressure due to a tight labour market, among other reasons.”
Major differences
“The average emotional-related absenteeism is not representative of various sectors and sub-populations, which differ greatly,” Penders explains. According to ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, sectors with mostly office work have the highest increase in stress-related absenteeism; in the information & communication sector this was even 20%. In comparison, in the healthcare sector this rate was 10% higher in the beginning of 2022 than prior to the pandemic. Prior to Covid-19, stress-related absenteeism was the highest in the educational sector, but this decreased in the beginning of the pandemic and increased again in the beginning of 2021 to pre-pandemic levels.
Prevent absenteeism that results from high work pressure and stress
It is yet unclear how Covid-19 will continue to develop, but the tight labour market continues to create staffing challenges in many companies and this can increase the work pressure. It is important for employers to gain insight in the risks of absenteeism so that they can respond to these before employees report sick, for example by means of the Preventive Medical Examination (PME). “Continue to keep a close eye on signs of stress. Continue to communicate with each other, organise individual attention and make time for things that give employees energy. And, arrange help on time. We help employers and employees in various ways to prevent long and short-term absenteeism, which prevents a lot of hardship in the long run.”