Absenteeism due to stress increased by more than 8% last year

21 September 2023

In August, average absenteeism in the Netherlands was 4.0%, a slight decrease compared to the 4.1% rate in the previous month. Absenteeism has thus fallen by almost 1.0% since March of this year. Despite this decline, there’s no reason to be optimistic about these figures, as long-term absenteeism due to stress-related symptoms has increased by 8.4% over the past year (July 2022 to June 2023). This was revealed by statistics published by health and safety services ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, both part of HumanTotalCare and serving around 1 million employees.

Stress is the main cause of absenteeism among woman and Millennials

Almost a quarter of all days of absence are caused by stress-related symptoms such as anxiety, lethargy, and tension. In fact, these symptoms are the main cause of absenteeism among women and workers between the ages of 25 and 45, which includes the Millennial generation.

Although stress-related symptoms often lead to employees failing to turn up at work, company doctors say that in 40% of cases the cause has little to do with the work itself. Research has shown that events in an employee’s personal life often have a major impact on their ability to work. Such events include providing informal care outside of work, a divorce, or financial worries.

A backpack full of concerns

Jurriaan Penders, company doctor and director of medical affairs at HumanCapitalCare, uses a backpack to illustrate how an employee’s concerns about their work and private life reinforce each other. ‘You stuff all kinds of things from work and private life into this backpack. At a certain point, it’s overflowing from anxiety, stress, and other things that sap your energy. The backpack simply becomes too heavy, at which point it makes no difference whether the weight is due to your work or another cause. You’re no longer be able to recharge your batteries and get back on the road to recovery. And sometimes it drags you down to the ground.’

Most absenteeism in public administration, healthcare and education sectors due to stress

Last year, the average absenteeism rate due to stress-related symptoms was 1.0%. In some areas the figure was much higher; public administration (1.5%), healthcare (1.5%), and education (1.3%). ‘These are sectors with a pronounced social function, centred around working for others, such as citizens, patients and students,’ Penders continues. ‘People who work in healthcare and education have a particularly strong drive to help others. Often this drive cause them to go beyond their own limits. Moreover, these are sectors in which fixed work schedules and a high volume of administrative tasks means employees have to do a lot and enjoy little autonomy. This limited independence makes it difficult to organize the work in such a way that it provides as much energy as possible and reduces the risk of stress.’

Early intervention pays off

Company doctors apply three escalating levels of stress-related symptoms; anxiety, exhaustion, and burnout. ‘The longer you wait to tackle stress symptoms, the worse it gets and the longer it takes to recover,’ says Penders. In the past year, the occupational health and safety services noticed a particular rise in employees suffering from exhaustion. These employees are absent from work for 235 days on average. The impact is enormous for all those involved; the employee does not feel well, a day of absence costs the employer an average of €315, and colleagues who have to take over the work can suffer extra pressure. Penders: ‘The biggest gains can be achieved by identifying stress and making it open to discussion, even if work is not the cause. You can then look for a solution together, which will prevent symptoms from worsening and an employee being absent for a longer period of time.’