- In the Swiss economy, absenteeism from work due to mental illness has reached a record high.
- According to experts, the increase is 20 percent compared to the previous year.
Andreas Heimer from PK Rück confirmed the increase to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. The evaluation is based on data from around 250,000 employees from 6,000 companies.
According to Heimer, this should not be a catch-up effect after the Covid pandemic. He assumes a structural trend. The cases recorded are also serious. On average, an affected employee is absent for eleven months.
Heimer also warns of a new wave that is approaching disability insurance: “Many of those affected will not be able to return to work for a long time or will even retire forever.” The number of new pensioners in IV increased by 16 percent last year. Every second case is psychological.
New complaints also burden the health insurance companies
New clinical pictures are always in the foreground, for example post-traumatic stress disorders, adjustment disorders, the so-called fatigue syndrome or post-Covid syndrome. “There is often no clear therapeutic decision for these new types of complaints, instead there is a great deal of leeway in the interpretation,” says Heimer.
The health insurance company Swica is considered the largest provider of daily allowance insurance – and confirms the trend to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. According to this, the number of cases in the field of psychiatric diseases has increased by 15 percent this year. The increase in costs is even higher.