1 in 10 employees admits to sometimes being absent from work for no reason according to a survey by business support company SD Worx. 660 employers and 1,000 employees took part in the research. Most businesses are in favour of reducing the number of days of absence employees can take without the need for a medical certificate.
4 out of 10 employees say their own team experiences problems as a result of colleagues being off work. But that does not alter the fact that, on average, 1 in 10 employees admits to sometimes being absent without reason.
The figure is higher in SMEs, small and medium-sized businesses, (13 per cent), with up to 250 employees. In organisations with more than 250 employees, it is 8 per cent.
There are also differences according to the sector: for example, the figure is twice as high in the industrial and construction sectors, where 20 per cent say they are sometimes absent from work without a valid reason. Employees in sectors such as training, in professional, scientific and technical services and healthcare say they do this the least (6 to 7 per cent).
Sick leave without doctor’s note to be cut
In SMEs with more than 50 employees, an employee can now be absent for 1 day 3 times a year without the need to produce a medical certificate. The federal government is working on a draft law to limit that to 2 days, from 1 January 2026.
Three quarters of SMEs are happy with that reduction. ‘Unplanned absences due to illness quickly make themselves felt in the workplace,’ says Anneleen Verstraeten of SD Worx. ‘It’s mostly Flemish SMEs (1 in 5) that experience absorbing one-day absences as the most problematic. A quarter experience Monday as the most difficult day, followed by Friday, but the majority find all working days equally difficult to accommodate in planning.’
SMEs with fewer than 50 employees can still request a sick note for each day of absence. 56 per cent of Flemish SMEs do so. This is most common in the industrial and construction sectors (72 per cent), compared with the service sector (51 per cent).