Health at work
Health insurance companies: Sickness rates fell slightly in 2024
Colds, back pain, psychological problems: Absences due to illness have recently increased in many companies. Will this continue?
According to evaluations by large health insurance companies, absences from work due to illness fell slightly last year. On average, employees were on sick leave for 19.1 days – after the record number of 19.4 days in 2023, as the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) announced based on its own insured data. According to its insured data, DAK-Gesundheit reported a decrease from an average of 20 to 19.7 days of absence. Although there was a slight increase in sickness reports, the average duration of cases was 9.7 days, but was shorter than in 2023 with 10.1 days of absence.
“First positive signal”
DAK boss Andreas Storm called it “a first positive signal” that sickness rates would not increase further in 2024, but would fall slightly. “The next few years will show whether this will result in a trend reversal.” The head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, said that the recent debate about high sickness rates was going in the wrong direction. “Instead of discussing ad hoc solutions for employees with short absences, employers should focus on those with long-term illnesses.”
The most common diagnosis for sick leave is colds such as flu infections, bronchitis or corona infections with an average of 4.67 days of absence per employed person in 2024, as the Techniker Krankenkasse explained. This was a slight decrease from 5.11 days of absence in 2023.
dpa
Source: Stern
