Last summer, employees in Bavaria were noticeably often on sick leave. There was a particularly strong increase in musculoskeletal diseases and psychological diagnoses, as the health insurance company DAK announced on Thursday in Munich. According to this, the sickness rate among its insured persons in the third quarter was 4.4 percent, 0.2 points above the already very high level of the previous year. There were almost a quarter more days missed due to depression and anxiety disorders as well as back pain or herniated discs.
“On average, each and every employee had four days of absence – even though there was no summer flu wave,” said the DAK after an analysis of payroll data from July to September. “Along with musculoskeletal disorders, the main reason for the continued very high level of sickness was a renewed increase in mental illnesses.” Due to the large database, the developments at DAK are considered representative of all employees in the Free State.
“The aftereffects of the pandemic, the uncertainty in Germany due to the many crises in the world: all of this is increasingly putting a strain on people’s psyches,” explained DAK country director Sophie Schwab. “In addition, many industries are under particular pressure due to a lack of personnel.” The fund warned of a vicious circle of increased sickness and increasing staff shortages.
When it comes to mental illnesses, the number of days lost from work in Bavaria has recently increased by more than 23 percent, from around 61 to 75 days of absence per 100 employees. The increase in musculoskeletal disorders was almost 27 percent. This also saw the greatest loss of work overall, with 90 days of absence per 100 employees. Remarkable: The health insurance company assumes that musculoskeletal diseases are also linked to psychological stress to a certain extent. Up to a third of mental illnesses are hidden in this disease group, for example psychosomatic back pain.
Compared to the other federal states, the sickness rate in Bavaria was 4.4 percent in the third quarter, well below the national average of 5.0 percent. This means that on average, out of 1,000 employees in the Free State, 44 people were reported sick every day between July and September. Only Baden-Württemberg had a lower sickness rate of 4.2 percent, while in Saarland it was as high as 6.5 percent. The DAK is one of the largest statutory health insurance companies in Germany and evaluated the data of 2.35 million employees nationwide for its analysis.