Germany is worse than ever before: According to the Federal Statistical Office, employees were on sick leave for an average of 15.1 working days in 2023. At its lowest point in 2007 there were just 8.
The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates the economic damage from production losses to be 128 billion euros for 2023 alone. Economists and associations warn of economic consequences, including lower economic growth and higher social security spending. So what to do? A debate has broken out about this in the past few days because alliance-Boss Oliver Bäte (59) has announced that he would like to get the whip out: In his opinion, employees should on the first day of illness no longer receive continued payment of wages.
In the loud storm of general indignation, the FDP parliamentary group then demanded a carrot: party leader Christian Lindner (46) spoke in favor a reward model in the form of bonuses for every month without reporting sick. An attendance bonus for employees, can that even work? The model is definitely not new – some companies are already paying or have paid. Your examples show the pitfalls of the idea.
Transport: Hamburger Hochbahn, Kiel and Cologne transport companies
Hamburger Hochbahn pays its employees an attendance bonus of 615.62 euros per half-year. For trainees it is 566.67 euros. A deduction only takes place from the 3rd sick working day in the half year; from the 17th sick working day no bonus is paid out. In between there is a “sliding” deduction. “This has proven successful for us for a long time,” says a company spokesman. However, the sickness rate still increased after the corona pandemic. He doesn’t want to reveal a specific number.
Many transport companies in Germany in particular are struggling with a lack of staff and high levels of sickness. This causes cancellations and delays. The Düsseldorf Rheinbahn, for example, is less punctual than it has been in years, partly because so many employees are sick. However, the company does not offer a “health bonus” because “as an employer we do not want to be responsible for our employees coming to work sick,” the company told manager magazin. Critics from trade unions such as the DGB legal protection and the Techniker Krankenkasse also argue this.
The Hamburger Hochbahn sees it differently. The model has existed for more than 20 years and is part of the collective agreement. The collective bargaining parties could therefore terminate the regulation at any time if they were dissatisfied with it. “We cannot share the impression that employees are more likely to drag themselves to work sick,” says Hochbahn. Staggering the bonus would help ensure that employees actually log out if they are sick.
The Kiel transport company KVG sees it similarly. The company pays an attendance bonus of up to 1,000 euros per year. And the model has also arrived at least partially in Cologne. Employees of the Cologne transport company KVB receive a general annual bonus if the company is doing well economically. However, this can be adjusted individually if an employee comes to work more often than average, reports the “Rheinische Post”.
Automotive industry: Tesla in Grünheide and auto supplier BIA
The automotive industry and its suppliers are particularly affected by the high sickness rates. Daimler boss Ola Källenius (55) says: “If, under the same production conditions, sick leave in Germany is sometimes twice as high as in other European countries, this has economic consequences.”
However, the company no longer has an attendance bonus. Daimler abolished the bonus at the end of 2019 after just two years. The company does not communicate a reason for this. Instead, they are relying on more health offers such as free flu vaccinations, health checks, back programs or coaching, says a Daimler spokesman.
The situation is different for the plastics manufacturer and automotive supplier BIA from Solingen. The company is struggling with a high failure rate, particularly in production: the sickness rate here was now at 9 percent, as “Wirtschaftswoche” reports. Five years ago the rate was 6 to 6.5 percent. The attendance bonus has therefore been available in production since July. Employees receive a good 10 percent more wages, which costs the company up to 80,000 euros per month. This pays off for the company: the sickness rate has fallen by 3 percentage points.
And also US car manufacturers Tesla relies on the bonus. At its German plant in Grünheide, employees can achieve a certain status, which is linked to an attendance bonus at the end of the year – up to 1,000 euros are possible in the so-called gold status.
But Tesla also likes to use other methods if the incentive system doesn’t work. When the sickness rate at the plant climbed to 17 percent in August, Managing Director André Thierig and Human Resources Manager Erik Demmler paid a surprise visit to the homes of some employees who were on sick leave. Officially, the company said at the time it was out of concern, not for control reasons.
Health sector
The healthcare industry is currently still struggling with premiums. The current data from the BKK umbrella organization for 2023 on sick leave is alarming: nursing staff were absent for an average of 22.4 days.
The Hamburg Asklepios Clinics therefore debated introducing the reward bonus in the collective bargaining dispute with Verdi in March 2024. Other clinics are also in discussions. Asclepius initially left unanswered whether this had happened in the meantime. Verdi at least spoke out clearly against the bonus. “Asklepios wants to punish employees who get sick. This employer offer is completely out of date,” the union said in the spring.
Aside from the moral debate, the effectiveness of the bonuses is controversial. The scientists Dirk Sliwka, Jakob Alfitian and Timo Vogelsang investigated in a study,
whether they could actually lead to fewer sick days. Together with a supermarket chain, they evaluated the behavior of groups with and without attendance bonuses. The result: Employees even called in sick more often because the bonus signaled to them that it was acceptable not to come to work. They felt less guilty about staying home even though they may not have been sick.
More on the topic
In addition, the increase in absenteeism in recent years is largely due to mental illnesses, which on average are associated with particularly long downtimes. On the one hand, such illnesses are now better recognized and therefore diagnosed more frequently, explains Eike Windscheid-Profeta, social expert at the Hans Böckler Foundation. On the other hand, the increasing stress in many companies due to a lack of personnel and digitalization is likely to play a role.
A high number of respiratory infections, which were contained by the corona protection measures until 2022 and are now even more rampant, are also of little help.