Are workers sicker than before? According to a study published Thursday by the consulting firm WTW, employee absences increased in companies in 2022, with a greater increase among young people. Last year the absenteeism rate thus reached 5.3% compared to 4.9% in 2021, 5.1% in 2020 and 3.9% in 2019, the last year before Covid-19. “Workers are 42% (compared to 34% in 2021) to have stopped at least one day during the year”, specifies this study.
In 2022, 4% of absences exceeded 90 days, representing almost half of absenteeism, 58% are of very short duration, less than 7 days. The increase in absenteeism is general “regardless of age, sector, CSP, gender…”, notes Noémie Marciano, a WTW manager, quoted in the study.
Higher absenteeism among those under 40
But it was stronger among employees under 40 (+16%) as well as among managers and intermediate professions (+14%) against 9% for all employees. The firm does not have access to the causes of the arrests but, for Noémie Marciano, this could partly be explained by the increase in arrests for mental health problems observed by Social Security since the Covid-19.
“The new work methods and organization very quickly adopted in companies have not been sufficiently supported for a large part of them (management of teleworking and the right to disconnect, welcoming of new employees, support for employees digital transformation, distance training, etc.), she underlines.
The survey was conducted based on the observation of 345,000 employees from nearly 650 private sector companies over a period of 4 years.