A study by the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW), published Thursday, June 23, indicates that absenteeism in private sector companies and in the territorial public service has increased in recent years beyond the Covid effect.
In the private sector, out of a panel of more than 340,000 employees from nearly 650 companies of all sizes and from all sectors observed for this survey, the proportion of work stoppages, all causes combined, has thus increased from 3.4 % to 4.6% between 2017 and 2021. An increase of 37% in five years that the Covid effect is not enough to explain. Half of these took place between 2017 and 2019, mainly fueled by sick leave (excluding accidents at work and occupational diseases): the absenteeism rate for illness was already 3.2% in 2019, compared to 2.8% in 2017 , before reaching 4.1% in the midst of the health crisis in 2020 then 3.8% in 2021.
This trend observed in all age groups, with a particularity for those under 30 who are the only ones not to have seen their absenteeism rate drop in 2021. “Professional Wear” and the ” psychosocial risks “ probably play a role, comments Noémie Marciano. For the director of the Health & Benefits consulting offer of WTW in France, the increase in sick leave, especially among young people, is explained by “multiple causes” difficult to disentangle, given the upheavals that the world of work has experienced in recent months.
Health and transport lead absenteeism
Front-line workers, non-executives experience an absenteeism rate almost three times higher than that of executives (6.4% vs. 2.3% in 2021). As in previous years, among the most affected by absenteeism in 2021 are healthcare establishments (9.02%), followed by the transport and logistics sector (7.07%).
To take the pulse of the territorial public service, which is the second largest employer in terms of the volume of agents on the public sector side, the WTW barometer panel covered 10,382 local authorities employing 290,000 agents (canteen staff, roads, maintenance green spaces, cleaning of premises, etc. affiliated to the National Pension Fund for Local Authority Agents (CNRACL).
Absenteeism for ordinary illness is also increasing there. The rate of absenteeism due to illness excluding accidents at work thus fell from 3.53% to 3.86% between 2016 and 2019, and peaked at 4.05% in 2021. But absenteeism due to accidents at work (1, 3% in 2021) decreases for the second consecutive year. A “effect of the health crisis”estimates the consulting firm, which recalls that the periods of confinement and reduced activity for agents exposed to the public have limited the risks.
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