German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced sweeping tax, pension and labour reforms today, including that workers will now be required to get a medical certificate saying they’re too unwell to work from the first day of sick leave.
Workers in Germany used to be able to take up to three sick days without seeing a doctor and could call a doctor for a one-week sick leave letter without an in-person appointment.
Under the new reforms, both options are now banned.
In a speech, Merz flagged “exorbitant levels of sick leave in companies following the pandemic” and said: “We are…
https://www.datapulse.de/en/sick-leave-europe-comparison/
This goes into everything about it. In short, the sick statistics actually only shows which countries are good at reporting it. The countries with the best coverage of pay obviously also report it better.
Germany is straight in the middle of everything.
The most interesting thing to notice is Norway. They have the highest average of sick days. They’re probably not more sick than others, but because their sick days are covered 100% by the state, it’s in everyone’s interest to report it. And yet… despite of 19% of the workforce being sick on any given day… they’re also the most productive GDP/hour.
Hmm good point