More absenteeism, much less productiveness | Economy | EUROtoday

The debate on absenteeism from work returns. The proposals to scale back working hours and to interchange medical leaves with computerized self-leaves of the member (as much as three days) have relaunched it.

It is a heated debate. Related firms, employers, mutual societies and institutes emphasize the lack of productiveness attributable to absenteeism. True, however it have to be certified. In the sense that the productiveness of the capital issue and never that of labor is the primary reason behind the decline in whole Spanish productiveness, by 7.3% for the reason that starting of the century: as a consequence of low funding, the desire in direction of actual property over the technological one, or the shortage of that devoted to intangible belongings (BBVA/IVIE Observatory, January 2024).

Along these traces, the most recent report from the Adecco group (April 4) assesses absenteeism at 7.2%, on the finish of 2023, in comparison with 4.1% in 2013. This would imply a price of 25,326 million euros between contributions enterprise and Social Security funds. The AMAT affiliation of mutual insurance coverage firms denounces “black Mondays”, by which 1.5 million folks would miss their jobs. And it figures in its report on 2022 the prices of its predominant cause (short-term incapacity) on the pharaonic determine of 119,151 million, including the direct, oblique and alternative prices.

The unions reply that the social price of “presenteeism” is way larger than the financial price of “absenteeism”: this represented a lack of about 2.5% of European GDP in 2010, whereas the previous was larger, since “almost 4% of Every 10 European workers came to work sick” (Health and well-being at workEurofound).

They argue, above all, that authorized and justified “absence” have to be differentiated from “absenteeism.” And that the bases of the estimates made by their rivals are incorrect and exaggerated, since they normally seek advice from hours not labored. Including those who shouldn’t be counted as a consequence of their full authorized and social help (holidays, marriage leaves, maternity/paternity…).

The most dependable method focuses on absences as a consequence of short-term incapacity, as proposed by the Umivale/IVIE examine (Spain leads work absenteeism as a consequence of short-term incapacity in Europe, February 2024). Very extreme, however much less tragic than others, it compiles that between 2014 and 2022 European absenteeism elevated by 0.6% yearly (a complete of 30% in eight years), whereas Spanish absenteeism elevated by 2.1 factors yearly, doubling in the identical interval, as much as 4.1%. And within the third quarter of 2023 it reached 5.5% of all staff. Inducing public spending of 1.4% of annual GDP (solely under Germany, Holland and Sweden), in comparison with 1.2% within the EU as a complete.

Perhaps probably the most worrying factor is the long run of those losses. During Covid, there have been greater than 118,000 who “missed” greater than 100 days; At the start of 2022, they dropped to simply over 62,000; and in 2023 they as soon as once more exceeded 100,000. Not sufficient work has been carried out to discover the causes of this improve and the load of every one.

But brokers concerned and consultants normally agree on the collapse or lengthy lists of medical-health providers, which take time to diagnose; within the improve in psychological well being issues; within the low ranges of job safety; and within the permanence of debatable and even fraudulent casualties. The analysis report of the Toledo Pact for the years 2011 to 2015 estimated a variety of 40% to 45% of irregular casualties. There's homework.

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