Sick leave: More and more employees are absent for longer periods of time due to illness

The proportion of employees who are absent for a longer period of time due to illness is increasing. This emerges from an evaluation of insured person data from the umbrella association of company health insurance companies (BKK). Accordingly, they remained Sick leave and the average duration of illness remained stable over the past year. Nevertheless, health insurance companies have to pay sick pay more and more often, it was said.

In Germany, sickness benefit is paid from the 43rd day of illness and therefore primarily affects people with long-term illnesses. At 21.6 billion euros, it is now one of the largest expenditure items in statutory health insurance, says the BKK. In 2025, more than a quarter of all days of absence were due to receiving sick pay. Days of sick pay have increased by 24.4 percent over the past ten years.

Two illnesses as drivers

The most common reasons for receiving sick pay are mental illnesses and musculoskeletal problems. Although mental illnesses only accounted for 5.4 percent of all sick notes, they lasted on average for more than five weeks and the trend is rising.

“It’s not the short colds that put a financial strain on the health system,” said association board member Anne-Kathrin Klemm. What is needed is a serious debate about a prevention strategy for mental illnesses – and not just in the world of work.

Coalition wants stricter rules for sick leave

The black-red coalition announced a few days ago that it wanted to bring forward the obligation to present a certificate of incapacity for work to the first day of illness and to abolish the possibility of taking sick leave over the phone. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) justified the plans by saying that sick leave should be reduced.