Absenteeism in the Netherlands continues to fall
Utrecht, 22 June 2023 – In May 2023, the average rate of absenteeism in the Netherlands fell for the third consecutive month, down to 4.2% compared to 4.5% in April 2023. The health sector noted the strongest decline in May. However, long-term absenteeism attributed to mental health is increasing, particularly in the younger age groups. That was revealed from statistics from health and safety services HumanCapitalCare and ArboNed, both part of HumanTotalCare and jointly serving more than 1 million employees.
Strong decline in absenteeism in health sector
The downward trend in total absenteeism reflects the usual seasonal pattern in the summer. Like last month, the healthcare sector, where sickness absence has been highest for many months, showed the biggest decline in absenteeism: from 6.1% to 5.7%. The number of sickness absences fell in the health sector by 10% from an average 54 to 49 per 1000 employees.
Long-term trend: mental health-related absenteeism rises
For several years, the often long-term absenteeism related to mental health has been rising. Redmer van Wijngaarden, occupational physician and director of medical affairs at ArboNed: ‘Notably, this rise is strongest among younger age groups. In the first quarter of 2023, the percentage of mental health-related absenteeism amongst 25-34-year-olds rose by around a third compared with the first quarter of 2019.’
Timely intervention
In general, in 2022 ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare noted that people with stress-related issues were absent for an average 195 days. For nervous exhaustion, this is an average of 228 days and for burn-out 288 days. ‘The longer someone is absent, the harder it is to resume work’, says Van Wijngaarden. ‘It is therefore vitally important to recognise signals from employees and to intervene in time to discuss suitable solutions. By exploring the options early in the sickness absence, it may be possible to prevent long-term absenteeism."