Hanover
In the first half of 2024, a large number of people nationwide were absent from work due to illness. According to data from the KKH Kaufmännische Krankenkasse, the sickness rate among KKH-insured employees in the first six months was 6.5 percent. In the first half of 2019 – before the pandemic – it was 5.0 percent.
In the first half of 2023, every working person was on sick leave on average twice: there were 204 absences for every 100 working members of this health insurer. From January to the end of June 2024, there were 210 absences from work per 100 members.
Employees are absent with cold symptoms
According to the insurance company, the reason for this is mainly the persistently high number of respiratory diseases such as coughing, colds or flu-like infections: In the first half of 2024, this was 70 cases per 100 insured persons – after 69 cases in the same period last year and only 34 cases five years ago. From January to the end of June 2024, respiratory infections accounted for a third of all cases (34 percent).
According to a KKH spokeswoman, there are several reasons for the increased number. The sensitivity to the risk of infection by colds has increased since the corona pandemic, which may be the reason why more and more people are missing work for this reason. Sick leave reports of only a few days are also better registered since the introduction of electronic sick leave reports. The insurance companies were not previously aware of all cases.
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