"Unimaginable in Korea"... German Employees Taking Sick Leave '20 Days a Year', Frequently Calling in Sick

Known for Taking More Sick Leave Than Pears in Switzerland

Following electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, a representative German automobile company, has pointed out the sick leave situation of German employees.

Mercedes-Benz, a leading automobile manufacturer representing Germany.
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 18th (local time), Ola K?llenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, criticized in an interview with Der Spiegel, saying, "The high sick leave rate in Germany is a problem from a corporate perspective," and added, "If the sick leave rate in Germany is twice as high as in other European countries under the same production conditions, this leads to economic consequences." K?llenius, a Swedish-German CEO, did not disclose exact figures related to the sick leave situation of German employees. However, he said, "We are making great efforts for employee health, including work processes reflecting industrial safety and ergonomics, and flu vaccinations," and added, "To improve further, efforts are needed in all aspects." Currently, Mercedes-Benz produces cars in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Poland.

This is not the first time that frequent sick leave has been pointed out as a drag on the German economy. According to statistics presented by Oliver B?te, CEO of insurance company Allianz, in a recent article for the economic newspaper Handelsblatt, the average number of sick leave days for German workers last year was 19.4 days, more than double that of Switzerland (9.2 days). He argued, "If it were not for the extremely high sick leave rate, the German economy would have grown by nearly 0.5% last year instead of shrinking by 0.3%."

Tesla Germany Factory. [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Earlier, it was reported that last month, a human resources manager at Tesla's German factory visited the homes of employees who took sick leave without prior notice to check if they were malingering. As the absenteeism rate among employees increased, it was reported that this measure was taken because such situations were seen to lower the motivation of other workers. Tesla's German factory management claimed that the employee sick leave rate reached 15-17% in August. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the overall sick leave rate for German workers last year was 6.1%, and the average for the automobile industry was 5.2%.

However, in response, the German Metalworkers' Union (IG Metall) and former Tesla employees argued that staff health was harmed due to labor shortages and inadequate workplace safety measures.