Fake sick people: The problem with increasing absenteeism

1.178.4 million euros was the cost of sick leave for employees in Luxembourg's private sector in 2023, a full 51 per cent more than four years earlier, i.e. before Covid. According to the annual report of the General Inspectorate for Social Security (IGSS), the majority, i.e. 824.9 million euros, was paid by Luxembourg's employers, who continue to pay sick leave for up to 13 weeks of their employees' absence. The remaining 353.5 million euros come from the accounts of the Luxembourg health insurance fund, CNS for short, which pays sick pay in the event of prolonged absence.

The report, however, does not include data for employees with unlimited sick pay, i.e. employees and civil servants in the public sector and working for local authorities, so the figures only reflect part of the actual situation. This is currently alarming, as the statistics show: The rate of absenteeism is increasing year on year and the suspected misuse of certificates of incapacity for work is also on the rise. Anyone who felt overwhelmed when reading the above figures can probably understand why so-called sickness-related absenteeism is also causing company managers a stomach ache.

Like a domino effect

If employees are absent from day-to-day business, it is not "only" the economy that suffers, but also social interaction within the company, as the direct, measurable costs of sickness absence are joined by the costs that are not reflected in the statistics. "It's not the sick leave itself that hurts, because 80 per cent of our salary costs are reimbursed by the employers' mutual insurance scheme. It's all the fees that arise as a side effect, " explains Constantin Jacques, head of the carpentry business of the same name.

Jacques was 21 when he took over the company from Foetz in 2001, which is now based in Bartringen and Niederanven. The initial five employees have now grown to 22; however, the company's worries have also grown with its size. "We used to have a positive absenteeism rate, at least I can't remember absence because of sickness ever significantly disrupting our activities. Since Covid, however, the mood has changed, and not just for us, " says Jacques. The company manager has had to register three burnouts in recent years, each time among office staff, whose absence brings with it a whole string of problems. "Burnout is a phenomenon like a car crashing into a tree. From one day to the next, a person is missing and as an employer you have no idea if and when they will come back."