Sickness rate down in Saxony

So far this year, employees in Saxony have called in sick less frequently than in previous years. According to evaluations by the Barmer health insurance company, employees were on sick leave for an average of 1.9 days in March. This corresponds to a sickness rate of 6.1 percent. In March of last year, it was 6.9 percent. The average number of days of absence at that time was 2.1 days.

Telephone sick leave not a driver of absenteeism according to Barmer

In the first three months of 2024 and 2023, employees in Saxony were also on sick leave more than in the current year, it said. "The downward trend in sick leave is a positive signal for all employees and companies in the state. This means that fewer absences have to be compensated for," emphasized Claudia Beutmann, head of Barmer in Saxony. The fact that the introduction of telephone sick notes had been a driver of absenteeism could not be seen from the data.

CDU laments high sickness rate

The figures from Saxony are not consistent with statements from CDU politicians, who had called for an end to telephone sick notes in view of employee absenteeism. Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz had also lamented what he saw as an excessively high sickness rate and questioned the use of telephone sick notes. Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) announced that she would review the regulation.

The sickness rate indicates how many employees are absent due to illness in a given period. It is expressed as a percentage. For 2025, an average of 26 days of absence resulted in a sickness rate of around 7.2 percent in Saxony. The analysis is based on data from around 106,000 people insured with Barmer.