Opinion
No pay on the first day of illness? A really bad idea
The Allianz boss wants to cut employees’ wages on the first day of illness. That would affect the wrong people and would not save Germany. There are smarter solutions.
The mood can change so quickly. It wasn’t long ago that workers were almost courted in the public debate. Entrepreneurs recognized that they themselves had to offer a lot in order to attract skilled workers. In the world of work, there was discussion about New Work, flexible working or even a four-day week.
Now there is an economic crisis and the employees who were just ensnared can apparently be verbally fired again. Above all, the high level of sickness has come into the bosses’ sights. Mercedes boss Ola Källenius recently explained that it is far too easy to call in sick in Germany. And Allianz boss Oliver Bäte is now even demanding that employees should not receive any wages on the first day of illness.
Back to the 60s
Such a waiting day was abolished in Germany in 1970. It still exists today in Sweden, Spain and Greece. And the Allianz boss would also like to turn back the clock a few decades to punish Blaumacher and save employers billions in costs for continued wage payments in the event of illness. “Germany is now the world champion when it comes to sickness reports,” complained Bäte in the Handelsblatt.
The proposal poisons the atmosphere between employees and employers. It ignores the real problems and even if it were implemented, it is questionable whether it would lead to real solutions or just create new problems.
Sick days are recorded better than before
The analysis that the Germans are developing into the blue-collar people is difficult to maintain. The number of reported sick days per employee has actually increased in recent years. It is also higher than in many other countries. But the reasons for this are varied.
The Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) came to the conclusion in a study at the end of October: The main reason for the increase in absences since 2022 is that they are simply recorded better than before: “The majority of the increase is due to the electronic recording of absences sickness reports.” According to the economists, the possibility of reporting sickness over the telephone and the generous rules for continued payment of wages also played a role. But to a large extent the problem appears to be a statistical phenomenon.
Of course, cutting wages on the first day of illness would deter some people from carelessly celebrating sick days. At the same time, however, it would penalize significantly more honest employees who are really sick. And will we really be helped if more employees drag themselves to work sick and infect their colleagues because they think they can’t afford the day of rest?
There are other solutions
Those who quickly get back in the saddle after a day off are also punished, while the effect is pretty much lost on people who are sick for a longer period of time. In addition, if the waiting day is reintroduced, it would always be cheaper for employees to take sick leave for the entire week as a precautionary measure instead of running the risk of missing a day twice. The employer’s calculation could quickly backfire.
There is also the social, or rather anti-social, dimension of the proposal. A day’s loss of wages hits low earners much harder than higher earners. In addition, people in better-paid jobs often benefit from more generous company regulations anyway, which would also be expected here.
In order to reduce the damage to the economy caused by absenteeism, there are smarter solutions than the threat of waiting days. In the case of mild colds, employers could offer their employees to work from home, reintroduce mask-wearing or – more specifically – offer part-time sick leave, as exists in Sweden. This way you can cure the illness without having to spend the whole day on the sofa.
Source: Stern
