Rules introduced at the start of this year to allow people who fall ill during their holidays to recuperate their leave is having an effect as short-term absenteeism has since risen considerably during school holidays.
Previously, people in Belgium who became ill during their time off from work would simply lose the days they were unwell. However, on 1 January 2024 a new regulation came into force allowing employees to submit a sick note to their employer to turn these days off into sick days. The right to guaranteed pay during those sick days would be preserved and the sick days would not count as annual leave.
Six months on, HR services provider Securex reports that the rate of short-term absenteeism has risen more sharply during school holidays since the start of the year (taking into account the different school holidays according to language region). It examined how the short-term sickness rate changed in a region between March, April and May 2023 and those same months in 2024.
"When school holidays fell in one region but not in the other, the short sickness rate evolved more strongly in the region with holidays. Specifically, the evolution of the short absenteeism rate differs by 4% to 5%," the report noted.
According to Heidi Verlinden, research project manager at Securex, this trend correlates with the new regulation and could be linked to the "holiday sickness syndrome", whereby workers fall ill when work-related stress decreases. "So the new scheme, possibly for the first time, clearly maps out an existing phenomenon."
Despite the increase in short-term salary costs due to this short-term absenteeism, Securex stresses that this new measure is positive. "It is perceived as fair by workers. What's more, keeping days of leave to recuperate avoids longer absences, which is positive for both the worker and the employer in the long term."
