Most people have called in sick at least once. But in Germany, workers have been taking more than one day off sick every month for the past year\u2014and the government has had enough. Now, it\u2019s proposing to dock workers\u2019 wages.<\/p>\n
German workers take an average of 14.8 sick days per year, giving the country one of the highest rates of absenteeism in Europe. For context, that is four times the U.K.\u2019s sick leave rate.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s costing the country\u2019s businesses around \u20ac82 billion ($110 billion) a year, according to the German Economic Institute.<\/p>\n
So now Chancellor Friedrich Merz is reportedly considering a drastic solution: turning to workers to front that cost.<\/p>\n
German workers who take 5 or fewer days off sick will get a bonus<\/p>\n
Currently, the country has a very generous sick leave policy: up to six weeks (30 working days) fully paid for the same illness, with a doctor\u2019s note. They can take five days off sick without seeing a doctor in person, before needing to get a formal extension. And if the employee gets sick again owing to a different illness, the six-week period restarts.<\/p>\n
The Christian Democratic Union\u2019s proposed plans would see workers\u2019 pay docked from the very first day they call in sick. Meanwhile, workers who take five days or fewer would receive a bonus.<\/p>\n
The goal, according to German tabloid Bild\u2014which broke the story over the weekend\u2014is to nudge workers with minor ailments, like a cold, back into the office rather than reaching for the phone.<\/p>\n
As one government insider put it: \u201cIt\u2019s certain that Germany has the highest number of sick days in Europe. Both coalition partners would like to reduce that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, Germans called in sick nearly 20 times a year\u2014a record high. That figure has since fallen by around five days, but bosses have still been complaining about \u201cwork-shy\u201d Gen Z<\/a> exploiting the system amid persistently high rates compared with other European countries.<\/p>\n Merz, meanwhile, has made his feelings toward Germany\u2019s sick leave culture clear: Earlier this year, he underscored just how many weeks of 14.8 days leave employers high and dry: \u201cThat\u2019s nearly three weeks in which people in Germany don\u2019t work due to illness,\u201d he stressed. \u201cIs that really necessary?\u201d<\/p>\n He has also blamed the country\u2019s low productivity on Germans\u2019 lifestyle and attitude toward work, noting in a recent speech<\/a>: \u201cTo put it even more bluntly: Work-life balance and a four-day week will not be enough to maintain our country\u2019s current level of prosperity in the future, which is why we need to work harder.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortune has reached out to the German government for comment.<\/p>\n Burnout is becoming a major global issue<\/p>\n Although Germans are leading the charge, theirs is far from the only workforce cracking under pressure. Burnout has become one of the defining workplace crises of the post-pandemic era\u2014and the data suggests it\u2019s getting worse, not better.<\/p>\n One shocking study highlights that 54% of American workers report<\/a> feeling unhappy at work, with the frequency ranging from occasionally to constantly. Yet they are still showing up for their jobs, sitting at their desks, and silently struggling.<\/p>\n Office overachievers<\/a> are so burned out that workplace experts have taken stock of the phenomenon and even given it a name: a \u201ccompetence hangover.\u201d<\/p>\n Research consistently shows it\u2019s millennials who are burned out the most<\/a>; the generation has wound up in middle management and bearing the brunt of layoffs. And in the U.K., a mental health crisis among young workers is fueling a surge in workplace anxiety, stress, and absenteeism that employers are struggling to get a handle on. Staff are mentally checked out, on average, for one day each week.<\/p>\n It\u2019s perhaps unsurprising that, at the same time, research shows office politics have made a major comeback post-pandemic: Return-to-office mandates, AI-driven efficiency, and layoffs have caused backstabbing<\/a> and \u201cworkplace incivility\u201d<\/a> to spiral.<\/p>\n