If the number of sick leaves in French companies has decreased, their duration has, for its part, increased. This is what two studies published Monday on the issue reveal. These variations are explained in particular by Covid-19 which has increased the number of absences in 2022, but also by employees who are careful not to take sick days when they are teleworking.
Return of ordinary illnesses and those linked to working conditions
The absenteeism rate, which measures the number of days of absence compared to the total number of days worked, stood at 5.64% in 2022 and fell to 5.06% last year. Only 22% of sick leave was linked to Covid-19 contamination in 2023, compared to 43% in 2022. Ordinary illnesses, fatigue, and poor working conditions have regained their first place in the ranking of causes of absenteeism.
The drop in sick leave is less pronounced for 25-34 year olds than for other age categories, but stronger for fixed-term contracts than permanent contracts. By sector, industry recorded a more marked decline than in services, transport or logistics.
Longer stops
The average duration of stoppages increased by more than 2 days, due in particular to the reduction in short stoppages, which were largely linked to the Omicron variant of Covid-19, it is explained. The proportion of employees absent at least once during the year has fallen considerably (38% compared to 45% the previous year).
A more in-depth analysis of absences highlights a record rate of absenteeism linked to long absences of more than 90 days: the latter represent a little more than half of the total absences.
Around one in six employees has been arrested for a work accident or occupational illness. With a rate of 0.82% of the total (the 5.06% that the absenteeism rate reached in 2023), these reasons for absence reached their highest percentage in four years.
Teleworking rather than stopping work
The study shows that 63% of teleworkers (and 74% of executives) declare that the possibility of working remotely allowed them to avoid sick leave and 41% have already worked from home several times while sick.
These results are based on a statistical study of absences carried out over a scope of more than a million employees on permanent or fixed-term contracts from 2020 to 2023 by the consulting firm Diot-Siaci, and on a survey by the Ifop institute carried out among a representative sample of 3,000 employees regarding the reason for sick leave.