Direct costs of sick leave increased by 14% in 2022, to 21.527 million

The direct costs set aside by companies and mutuals to pay for sick leave due to shared contingencies rose by 14.1% in 2022, to €21,527 million, as a result of last year’s increase of 34.6% temporary incapacity, up to a total of 573,309 monthly withdrawals. This increase in monthly sick leave was 14 times higher than the increase in the number of social security members (2.5% last year), according to «Observatory of joint contingencies in 2022». which was prepared by the joint Asepeyo not counting covid cases.

The Territorial Director of Asepey Central Area, Constantino Perea, assures Efe that it is “alarming” increase which represents a total of 6,879,702 medical leave processes in 2022, which accumulated 259 million days of leave, which is equivalent to 711,000 employees who did not go to work a single day last year.

He direct cost to companies – who pay from the fourth to the fifteenth day of leave, as well as a possible supplement from the sixteenth – in the same period increased by 12.4 percent, to HRK 10.268 million.

Cost for interpersonal relationships – who pay leave from the sixteenth day – rose 15.7% to 11.259 million, according to the Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Against Accidents at Work (AMAT), which estimated the indirect costs to companies of replacing staff on leave, 6.5% more than in 2021.

The average incidence increased by 7.6 points in the last year, to 32.6 victims per month for every 1000 branches, with Navarra and Catalonia in the lead with an average incidence of 52.7 and 47.2 casualties per thousand workers. Extremadura was at the other extreme with 18.9 cases per thousand employees, followed by the community of Valencia with 24.6 victims. The average length of sick leave remained stable at 37.7 days, an average that rose to 67.2 days in Extremadura but fell to 24.7 days in Navarre.

Perea points out that environments with a higher frequency of sick leave tend to be shorter, which is explained by multiple factors that include economic activity, the number of workers, and the network and efficiency of public health services.

psychiatric pathologies

The largest number of victims is due to psychiatric pathologies (11.2% of the total number) and they have the longest average duration, 134.3 days. Without consolidated data, Perea believes that within this pathology there could be up to 20% of “refugee victims” who are related to business or family problems.

Terms relating to musculoskeletal system (lumbar spine, tendons, bone-joint and fractures) make up as much as 29.9% of sick leave cases, with a duration of 79 to 119 days.

By sector, the highest incidence was registered in administrative activities and auxiliary service activities, which includes cleanliness or safetyareas with a high staff turnover in which a large part of the victims are of psychological origin.

Construction is the sector with the lowest frequency of sick leavealthough it accumulates the largest number of accidents at work.

worker profile

50% of casualties occur in the compartment 31 to 50 years and 65% of the total amount refers to workers with up to 3 years of service in the company. Those who had been in service for less than a year accounted for 39.1% of casualties in 2022 and, conversely, those with more than 11 years of service accumulated only 14% of cases. Of the total number of cancellations, 68% are short-term, less than 15 days, and 27% are processed on Mondays.

casualty rate

Last year, 3% of affiliates accumulated 26% of total losses, processes that are generally very short-lived and suit young workers, with low regulatory bases and “minimal commitment” from companies, according to Perea.

However, he points out that it is a positive fact that 72 percent of workers did not have a single sick leave during the entire year.