Belgians now off work sick more often than during the pandemic

In many ways, 2020, the year the pandemic started, was a rather special year.  Strangely enough fewer people were off work ill.  “That’s because many businesses were closed and lots of people had been laid off temporarily” says well-being expert Miet Verhegen at Acerta Consult. 

Higher figures in 2022 are partly linked to a surge in absences in December.  “We suspect coronavirus, RSV and flu are to blame turning 2022 into a record year” says Miet. However, the trend towards higher absences of less than a month was already noticeable in September.

One in seven employees is off work sick at least one day a month on average. For 2021 the figure was one in eight.  In 2019 it was only one in ten. 

Acerta’s figures based 260,000 workers at over 40,000 private sector businesses show that short absences of less than a month mostly occur among people in their early thirties, the 30 to 35 age bracket.  Often these are people with young children.  Older employees are off sick less often, the older they get, the less often. Acerta recorded increased absences in retail, the financial sector and in services.

Miet has an explanation: “Since the pandemic people stay home when they are ill more readily.  2022 was also a year of many crises.  Times of stress and high work pressure weigh on mental well-being and will impact on the figures for absences”.

Since November workers in the private sector can stay home for a day saying they are ill three times a year without the need for a doctor’s sick note. Miet believes the impact of this innovation isn’t yet clearly noticeable in the figures.

The impact on a business of a worker being absent for a day differs widely depending on the job they are doing and the type of company.  Acerta is also curious to see the impact of fresh legislation that will allow people who are ill during their holiday to recoup these days.