Most people have taken sick leave at least once. But in Germany, workers have been taking more than one sick day a month over the past year — and the government has lost patience. Now, he proposes deducting salaries.
German workers take, on average, 14.8 days of sick leave per year, which puts the country among the highest rates of absenteeism in Europe. For comparison, this is four times the UK sick leave rate.
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And this costs the country’s companies around €82 billion (R$475 billion) per year, according to the German Economic Institute.
Now, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is reportedly considering a drastic solution: making workers bear this cost.
German workers who take five days or less of sick leave will receive bonuses
Currently, the country has a very generous sick leave policy: up to six weeks (30 working days) fully paid for the same illness, subject to a medical certificate.
It is possible to go away for up to five days without seeing a doctor in person, before needing a formal extension. And, if the employee becomes ill again due to another illness, the six-week period begins again.
The plans proposed by the Christian Democratic Union provide for a discount on workers’ salaries from the first day of leave. At the same time, those who take five days or less would receive a bonus.
The objective, according to the German tabloid Bild — which released the information over the weekend — is to encourage workers with minor problems, such as a cold, to return to the office instead of using the phone to report their absence.
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As one government source said: “It is certain that Germany has the highest number of sick days in Europe. Both coalition partners want to reduce this.”
In 2023, Germans were away due to illness almost 20 times a year — a historic record. That number has since fallen by about five days, but employers still complain that work-averse Gen Z is exploiting the system at persistently high levels compared to other European countries.
Merz, for his part, has already made his opinion clear about the culture of sick leave in Germany: at the beginning of this year, he highlighted how many weeks the 14.8 days of sick leave leave employers in difficulties: “That’s almost three weeks in which people in Germany don’t work due to illness,” he emphasized. “Is this really necessary?”
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He also attributed the country’s low productivity to Germans’ lifestyle and attitude toward work, noting in a recent speech: “To put it even more bluntly: work-life balance and a four-day week will not be enough to maintain our country’s current level of prosperity in the future, which is why we need to work harder.”
Fortune has contacted the German government for comment.
Burnout is becoming a huge global problem
While the Germans are at the forefront of this movement, they are far from the only workforce under pressure. Burnout has become one of the main crises in the world of work in the post-pandemic period — and the data indicates that it is getting worse, not better.
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An alarming study shows that 54% of American workers report feeling unhappy at work, with frequency ranging from occasional to constant. Yet they continue to show up for work, sit at their desks, and struggle in silence.
High-performing office workers are so burnt out that workplace experts have mapped the phenomenon and even given it a name: “competence hangover.”
Research consistently shows that millennials are most affected by burnout; This generation ended up in middle management positions and absorbing the impact of layoffs.
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And in the UK, a mental health crisis among young workers is fueling a rise in anxiety, stress and absenteeism that employers are struggling to cope with. On average, employees are mentally disconnected from work for one day a week.
It is not surprising that, at the same time, research indicates that office politics has returned with a vengeance in the post-pandemic period: demands to return to in-person work, AI-driven efficiency gains and layoffs have fueled internal betrayals and uncivilized behavior in the corporate environment.
It’s gotten to the point where exhausted workers are calling in sick and, increasingly, using sick leave as a way to escape — not because they’re actually sick, but to mentally recover from “toxic” bosses, decompress, and even look for another job. This perhaps helps explain why Germans are taking sick leave so often.
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