Health: technicians health insurance: sickness rates rise to a record high

Germany’s largest health insurance company is recording a record high level of sickness among its insured employees. From January to November, they were on sick leave for an average of 17.7 days, according to the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) in Hamburg. It was said that this was a new high. In the previous year’s periods 2023 and 2022, the number of sick days was slightly lower at 17.4 days of absence; in 2021 there were only 13.2 days of absence.

The number of sick days is also significantly higher than before the corona pandemic in 2019, when the TK recorded an average of 14.1 days of absence in the first eleven months. The data is based on the approximately 5.7 million employees insured by TK.

“The main diagnosis for the days missed is still colds such as flu, bronchitis and also corona infections,” said TK CEO Jens Baas. “In second place are psychological diagnoses such as depression or anxiety disorders, and in third place are sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders.”

People maintain Corona caution

A Forsa survey commissioned by TK also shows that many people in Germany are careful not to infect those around them. At the first sign of a cold, 77 percent of those surveyed said they avoided social contacts as much as possible. “Especially in times of pandemic, the question of how to protect other people from infection was very present. Many people apparently retained this awareness,” said Baas.

The high level of sickness in Germany always raises discussions. Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Källenius, for example, sees the high number of sick days taken by German employees as a problem for the business location. With regard to Mercedes-Benz, Källenius said that under the same production conditions, sick leave in Germany is sometimes twice as high as in other European countries the economic consequences. Tesla boss Elon Musk was also concerned about high levels of sickness at the Grünheide car plant during the summer months.