Home

Flu-related absenteeism reaches peak in January 

Son, 22 February 2024 – In January 2024, the number of new reported absences reached its highest level of the flu season so far: 85 per 1,000 employees. In previous months, this number varied from 55 in September to 83 in November 2023. That was revealed from statistics from health and safety services ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare, both part of HumanTotalCare and serving around 1 million employees in our country. The rise is related to an increase in the number of flu cases. The flu-related peak now seems to be behind us. 

Falling absenteeism

From the second week in January, flu-related absenteeism rose. Most employees who were absent due to flu were able to resume work within seven days. Since the last week in January, the number of flu cases has been falling. In January, the average rate of absenteeism in the Netherlands was 5.0% compared with 5.1% in December 2023.  

Big differences: company size and sectors

As usual, there were big differences in the average rate of absenteeism between big and small companies and between organisations in different sectors. In January, the average rate of absenteeism in SMEs was 4.6%, while this was 5.8% in companies with more than 250 employees. Furthermore, the occupational health and safety services are still seeing big differences between sectors. Healthcare (6.5%), industry (5.9%) and transport and storage (5.8%) had the highest rate of absenteeism in January.

Thinking about the autumn now

Flu can result in many employees being absent at the same time. This can cause problems for planned work. ‘Organisations which have experienced issues this year can start thinking now about what they can do to prevent problems this coming year,’ says Jurriaan Penders, occupational physician and director of medical affairs at HumanCapitalCare. ‘The occupational health and safety services can help organisations take a preventive approach by offering their employees the flu jab in the autumn. This will help reduce the level of flu-related absenteeism in the winter months.’