Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic eighteen months ago, absenteeism in companies increased by 20% in 2020, according to a study by insurance broker Gras Savoye Willis Towers Watson.
The derogatory stops granted to keep children or a vulnerable person during the first confinement largely impacted this increase.
As of May 1, 2020, these stops have in fact no longer been compensated by Social Security (they have entered into the mechanism of partial activity) and absenteeism has returned to a normal level.
While the employee absenteeism rate was 4.18% in 2019, it ultimately climbed to 5.04% in 2020 and a third of employees (34%) took at least one stop during the year.
On the other hand, the average length of absence has remained relatively stable at 54 days per year.
It is especially in the health (9.59%), transport and logistics (7.97%) sectors, which were most exposed during the crisis, that the increase in absenteeism was most important.
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All sectors combined, non-executives (who could not telework) were twice as hit by the crisis as executives. While SMEs and mid-cap companies have been the most affected by this phenomenon, large companies have not been spared.
“2020 has been an exceptional year, but the increase in absenteeism from year to year is a worrying underlying trend,”
points out Noémie Marciano, technical director and Health & Benefits consulting offer at Gras Savoye Willis Towers Watson.
