Women are absent more often and for longer due to stress

26 March 2026

In 2025, absenteeism caused by stress was twice as high in women as in men. Women aged 25 and above were absent more often and longer on average. These differences play out against a broader trend: stress-related absenteeism has increased by 43% over the past five years. This is based on figures from occupational health and safety services ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, both part of HumanTotalCare and jointly serving around one million employees. According to the occupational health and safety services, these figures call for a broader view of the causes of stress-related problems, which are not confined to the workplace but also related to phase of life, health and private circumstances, such as care responsibilities. This underlines the need to reorganise work, with a greater focus on workload capacity, both inside and outside work.

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Stress-related absenteeism continues to rise sharply

Overall absenteeism rose slightly in 2025 to 4.8% (2024: 4.7%). But behind that small rise lies a worrying development: absenteeism caused by stress is again showing a marked increase. By 8% in one year and as much as 43% over five years. Nowadays, one in four sick days is caused by stress. "This is no longer a temporary problem," says Iris Homeijer, occupational physician and director of medical affairs at HumanCapitalCare. "We see more and more people having problems. Not only due to work pressure, but also because of care responsibilities at home, financial stress and everything that is going on in society. For many people, it just becomes too much."

Within this trend, one group clearly stands out: absenteeism caused by stress is twice as high among women than men. In particular, women aged 25 to 45 report sick more often and are absent longer on average due to stress. "Especially at this stage of life, work, care and personal development often come together," says Homeijer. "Work and private life are not always sufficiently geared to that. Moreover, many women continue to work despite their problems or do not discuss them."

Women's health is still too often underexposed

As such, this issue touches on a broader blind spot: women's health in the workplace.
“Problems concerning mental stress and hormonal fluctuations are still not sufficiently reported, seen or recognised," says Homeijer. "As a result, action is often only taken after someone has already taken sick leave." According to ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, this is not a coincidence, but a pattern: work is still too often designed for an average employee. Differences in workload capacity, stage of life and health remain underexposed.

Homeijer: "As long as organisations continue to use a single standard, certain groups will consistently be more at risk of dropping out. Particularly for women, several factors play a role simultaneously at certain stages of life, such as health, care responsibilities and workload. This increases the risk of stress and absenteeism, and shows that these problems are not just caused by work but arise in the interaction with life outside it. That requires adjustments on both sides, with structural attention to absence prevention and customisation."

Impact of stress-related absenteeism

The structural increase in stress-related absenteeism has major implications for both organisations and individual employees. Those who are absent due to stress are out of the running for an average of eight to ten months. This not only involves high costs for employers, but also additional pressure on colleagues and teams required to absorb the work. But most importantly, it has profound effects on the employee's own life. "It often starts small," Homeijer continues. “Not sleeping so well, less energy, more easily irritated. But if you don’t address these issues, they can turn into long-term absence. This is precisely why we need to intervene sooner. At a time of labour market shortages and an ageing population, it is even more important that people stay healthy and enjoy working. The solution lies at the front end: in adjustments in both work and personal life, so that they are both better in line with people's total workload capacity."

Focus on prevention: looking differently at work and home

HumanCapitalCare and ArboNed call on employers to organise work differently, with more attention to differences between employees, stages of life and workload capacity There are many benefits to be gained by preventing absenteeism, yet a lot of attention and budget is still focused on providing support afterwards. Managers can play an important role to here: by recognising the signs sooner, starting the conversation and providing space where necessary, they can help prevent absenteeism.

"At the same time, we need to do more. Absence prevention requires structural priority at organisational level, where prevention is a permanent part of policy and decision-making, with room for customisation and structural attention to health,” says Homeijer. Such a preventive approach not only requires adjustments in the organisation of work, but also attention to how work and private life relate to each other. That also means enabling a conversation at the kitchen table, about workload, expectations and a fair division of work and care tasks. By encouraging these conversations, signs of stress become visible sooner and absenteeism can be prevented.

Joint responsibility

A broader movement is also needed. "This issue transcends individual organisations," says Homeijer. "We need a joint approach in which different parties such as employers, healthcare, government and science work together. Only then can we truly embed absence prevention and inclusive health in policy and practice." Homeijer continues: “Work is the engine that drives our economy. But it will only keep running if everyone, regardless of background or stage of life, can continue to work healthily and with pleasure."