Sick leave

This article covers the metric. In Austria, sick leave describes the status of incapacity for work .

Sickness level ( English sickness level , absenteeism ) is in human resources an economic key figure for measuring sickness-related downtimes among employees , with the times of sickness being compared to the target working hours .

Calculation of sick leave

There are various calculation methods for determining sick leave.

Calculation in statistics from employers

${\displaystyle {\text{Krankenstand}}={\frac {\text{erkrankungsbedingte Fehlzeiten}}{\text{Soll-Arbeitszeit}}}\,}$

From the employer's perspective, a measure of the absence of working hours due to illness is primarily relevant. In this respect, sick leave in companies is usually determined internally as the ratio of sickness- related absenteeism to target working hours. Illness periods outside of working hours, for example on weekends off , are not taken into account. However, this does not apply to illnesses during vacation leave, since the employee is entitled to have the vacation days lost due to illness credited back to his vacation account and to use them later. Statistics on sick leave in individual companies are generally not publicly available.

Calculation in statistics from statutory health insurance companies

${\displaystyle {\text{Krankenstand}}={\frac {\text{gemeldete Arbeitsunfähigkeitstage}}{\text{Versicherungstage}}}\,}$

Statutory health insurance companies use their membership statistics to determine the mandatory members reported as incapable of work as a percentage of the total mandatory members (excluding pensioners , students , young people and the disabled , etc.) as an arithmetic mean from the monthly statistics, an annual sick leave. The source for the survey is a doctor's certificate of incapacity for work . These statistics do not include those employees who can be absent for up to 3 working days without having to present their employer with a certificate of incapacity for work. A sick leave indicated by the health insurance fund generally corresponds to the proportion of reported incapacity days on all insurance days (including Sundays and public holidays).

The number of average reported sick leave days in the period can also be calculated from the information on sick leave within a period:

${\displaystyle {\mbox{Arbeitsunfähigkeitstage je Versicherungsjahr}}={{\mbox{Krankenstand}}\cdot {\mbox{365}}}}$.

This information then corresponds to the average time that a continuously employed person is reported incapable of work within a year. The Association of Health Insurance Funds regularly publishes extensive statistics on incapacity for work with information on sick leave.

Statistics from the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG)

The sick leave of compulsorily insured employees is regularly reported to the BMG by the statutory health insurance companies. However, only sick days on the first of each month are forwarded promptly, i.e. on 12 reference days within a year. An annual average value for sick leave calculated by the BMG is based on the arithmetic mean of the 12 monthly values ​​for a year:

${\displaystyle {\text{Krankenstand}}={\frac {\text{gemeldete Arbeitsunfähigkeitstage}}{\text{Versicherungstage am 1. eines Monats}}}\,}$

The main advantage of this procedure, which has been practiced for a long time, is likely to be that it is easy to define and use. However, the sickness rate for an entire year is only given imprecisely. The first two of the month of a year are basically public holidays ( New Year , May 1st ), on which typically relatively few employees are on sick leave. The number of Sundays and public holidays that fall on the first of the month can also vary from year to year. The annual average sickness rate published by the BMG on the basis of reference date values ​​thus underestimates to varying degrees the sickness rate within calendar years, which can be calculated by health insurance companies if the data are fully available.

Development of sick leave in Germany

Sick leave Germany 1974–2004

When continued wage payments were introduced in January 1970 , the sickness rate across all sectors was still 5.6%; in 1980 it was 5.67%. He stayed at this level until after the fall of the Wall . The highest sickness rate in statutory health insurance was in 1995 at 5.07%, the lowest in 2007 (3.22%), and currently (2016) it is 4.28%. The sickness rate varies in the individual branches of industry . Banks & insurance companies and media & publishing houses have the lowest sickness rates (3.5%), followed by agriculture and forestry (4.2%), education and teaching (4.6%), construction (5.5%), Transport & traffic (5.8%), manufacturing (5.8%), public administration & social security (5.9%), mining / energy / water disposal (6.3%) have the highest . According to region, the highest sickness rate is in the new federal states (5%), the lowest in Rhineland-Palatinate (4.8%). Men are slightly more likely to be ill (4.82%) than women (4.7%).

In 1980 an employee was registered as incapacitated for more than 7 days longer than in 2004, and in 1995 the average absenteeism per employee was around 6 days higher than in 2004. After that, the number of sick days fell further, according to the Institute for Employment Research 7.2 days (2005) and 6.8 days (2006). Since then, however, the sickness rate has increased continuously. The Techniker Krankenkasse reported an increase among their insured of 11.6 days per employee (2006) to 14.7 days in 2013 (about 25%).

causes

In addition to the state of health and lifestyle of the employees , other circumstances also have a significant influence on sick leave.

Economic causes

Overall, "the change to a service society - regardless of improvements in working conditions, including in the manufacturing industry - is accompanied by an overall decrease in sick leave". Whereas in 1970 8% of all employed persons were still active in agriculture, forestry and fishing and 47% in manufacturing, in 2014 the proportions were only 2% and 25% respectively. Conversely, the share of those employed in the service sector rose from 45% (1970) to 74% (2014). Due to the growth of the service sector - above all knowledge-based services - and the decline in the manufacturing and construction industries, physically demanding activities have become less important for many employees. Therefore, the change to a service society is accompanied by an overall decrease in sick leave.

Furthermore, there is a connection to the respective labor market situation : while sick leave is less common when unemployment is high , the absenteeism rate tends to rise when the labor market situation improves. The safer a job is, the more likely it is to be absent. This also seems to be proven by the traditionally disproportionately high sickness rate in the public sector .

At the same time, due to the increased occupational safety since 1970, the number of occupational accidents per 1,000 full-time employees has decreased significantly from just under 103 (1970) to 23.2 (2014). Here, occupational safety and occupational health protection have an impact on the health of the employees.

Operational causes

The main operational causes of sick leave can come from work content , work system , work organization , work motivation , working atmosphere or ergonomics . After the two-factor theory of Frederick Herzberg motivators influence the work motivation and work performance. In addition to recognition , a sense of achievement , prospects for advancement , development opportunities and responsibility , according to Herzberg, the work content is an important motivator. For employees , the one-piece flow results in increased work motivation due to the larger, perhaps complete work content (see work structuring ). Whether a job is monotonous or varied is aimed at the job content that is a condition of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Monotonous work content, which has arisen particularly through specialization , leads to dissatisfaction. They are characterized by a task that is uniform in terms of content, which makes only minor demands, and which can nevertheless demand sustained concentration . Job enrichment as a vertical restructuring of the work content is intended to counteract the monotony by expanding the work content through additional planning or control functions , job clarification through horizontal expansion of the content in the form of additional tasks from neighboring areas. Work that is hazardous to health poses the highest health risk (e.g. in mining , the chemical industry ). Monotony , routines , open- plan offices , internal resignation or bullying can also contribute to absenteeism .

Personal causes

Causes of illness can also come from the personal sphere of the employee. The main factor is the workforce , which is made up of physical and mental performance. If these are compared to the requirement profile of a task , this can lead to excessive or insufficient demands and prove to be an operational weak point . Other personal causes come from lifestyle or intrinsic work motivation if the work itself is not enjoyable (no variety of tasks, uninteresting tasks).

consequences

The sick leave , on maternity and during the medical treatment is the most expensive, rendered exclusively by employers benefit . In addition, there are production downtime costs due to overtime for existing employees or for replacement staff. With the same turnover , costs rise due to illness , so that profitability and productivity deteriorate due to higher sick leave. In the worst case , there can even be a drop in sales if the illness-related loss of production cannot be prevented. The continued payment of wages does not in itself represent an increase in costs because the personnel costs remain the same in the event of illness; however, they are no longer matched by any work , so that it is an operational transfer service without any consideration from the employee.

Termination due to illness?

There is a widespread opinion that illness is not a reason for dismissal . However, this does not apply under labor law . In this case, the illness of an employee must be so serious that his absences lead to operational impairment. A termination due to illness is a notice given by the employer because of significant contractual disruptions due to illness. It is the most important sub-case of ordinary dismissal , whereby the reason for the termination lies in the person of the employee. According to the case law of the Federal Labor Court (BAG), there must be three cumulative conditions for a dismissal due to illness:

• Negative health prognosis : at the time of termination there must be objective facts that raise concerns about further illnesses in the previous extent. A negative prognosis is not precluded by the fact that the periods of incapacity for work are due to different illnesses.
• The operational or economic interests of the employer are impaired if, due to the employee's absence, there are disruptions in operations or the employer is burdened with continued wage costs if these payments exceed six weeks.
• A weighing of interests that has been carried out is in favor of the employer. It is a matter of weighing up the interests of the employer and the employee, whereby the employer considers his interests to be more important.

Reducing sick leave

Apart from medical causes, which can be counteracted through company health promotion (e.g. company sports ) and the healthy lifestyle of the employees, possible company countermeasures must be derived from the main causes such as work content, work motivation, work system, work design, working atmosphere or ergonomics. The considerable, medically unjustifiable regional differences in sick leave also speak for a high level of motivation-related absenteeism, because the members of the company health insurance funds ranged from 15 days of incapacity for work in Bavaria to 20.3 days of incapacity for work in Saarland in 2012. Companies are increasingly recognizing this connection and are trying to limit the motivation-related sick leave through in-house integration management . In particular, sick return talks have proven useful , but in the context of employee satisfaction also expanded scope for responsibility and tasks for employees through job enrichment or job largement.

International

The international comparison from 2001 is based on the working days lost due to illness as a percentage of the annual working days. The highest sickness rate was recorded in France (7.2%), followed by Poland (7.0%), Norway (6.4%), the Netherlands , Austria and the Czech Republic (5.8%), Luxembourg (4.6 %) %), Hungary (4.3%) and Germany (4.2%). The United Kingdom (3.7%), Finland (3.6%), Belgium (3.3%), Switzerland (3.0%), Canada (2.8%) and the USA (2nd , 0%).

Meaning of the word in Austria

In Austria, 'being on sick leave' means 'having reported sick' even in more official language.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statista - the statistics portal, average sickness rate in statutory health insurance (GKV) from 1991 to 2016
2. ↑ Health report of the Techniker Krankenkasse 2014, p. 62
3. ^ Federal Association of Employers' Associations, sick leave, accessed on July 11, 2016 in 2014
4. ↑ Frederick Herzberg, One more Time: How Do You Motivate Employees , Harvard Business Review (46) No. 1, 1968, p. 8
5. ↑ Jörg Felfe / Detlev Liepmann, Organizational Diagnostics , 2008, p. 89
6. ↑ Helmut Seitz, Work Motivation and Job Satisfaction , 2010, p. 29
7. ↑ Federal Association of Employers' Associations 2014, sick leave
8. ↑ BAG - 2 AZR 755/13. In: www.bag- Judgment.com . Federal Labor Court , November 20, 2014, accessed on January 9, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Dr. Daniel Weigert: Termination due to illness outside of the Employment Protection Act . No. 24/2019 . Verlag CH Beck , 2019, ISSN  0949-7137 , article no.1671 .
10. ↑ Federal Association of Employers' Associations 2014, sick leave
11. ↑ OECD, Health Data 2000 , in: Rigmar Osterkamp, ​​loss of work due to illness - an international comparison , in: ifo Schnelldienst 21/2002, p. 19