Absenteeism drops dramatically in France

The levels of absenteeism in French companies dropped sharply in 2023, especially among large corporations, new research shows.

The survey, published by mutual insurer Malakoff Humanis, found out that 42% of all French workers missed work at least once during the course of the year, compared to 50% in 2022 when absenteeism suffered a dramatic spike, raising alarms among employers.

The percentage of French workers who missed time at work was back to 2021 levels, although it remains higher than in 2019 and 2020, when absenteeism reached 36% and 38%, respectively.

The authors of the report argue that the 2023 figures indicate that the post-Covid era has finally started in France’s labour market.

They say absenteeism was significantly lower in 2019 and 2020 because of lockdown rules that allowed many workers to work from home.

The following two years, however, saw the relaxation of these rules and many companies reopened offices. At the same time, aggressive strains of Covid-19, especially Omicron, took many workers down with less serious, but still incapacitating, infections.

But Covid-19 was much less of a factor last year, and absenteeism trends returned to their historical levels. Between 2015 and 2018, the annual average absenteeism ranged between 41% and 44%.

Malakoff Humanis points out that young employees are the most likely to miss time at work. Forty-six percent of those between 18 and 34 years old did not attend their jobs at least once in 2023, compared to the 42% average and 37% among those older than 50. Even then, the drop was remarkable – in 2022, the figure was 58% among young workers.

Workers with managerial jobs are more at risk as well, with a 45% rate of absenteeism. And 48% of female workers missed at least a day of work last year, against 37% of their male colleagues.

The survey also shows a reversal of fortunes between smaller and bigger French companies. In 2021, 30% of workers at companies with fewer than ten employees missed time, compared to 49% at companies with more than 1,000 workers. Last year, the rate was 40% and 33%, respectively.

The figures show that 52% of workers at large mid-sized companies between 250 and 999 employees missed work last year, the highest of all categories.

Health workers were the most likely to miss time, at 52%, followed by those at industrial firms (45%) and in construction (42%).

The most common causes for missing a working day in France was common illnesses such as cold, flu and gastroenteritis, which affected 33% of those surveyed. In second came psychosocial conditions at 15%, and then musculo-skeletal disorders in third at 12%.

For its part, absenteeism due to Covid-19 dropped from 14% to 7% in the space of one year.

A further conclusion of the study is that French workers feel increasingly less engaged with their jobs. In 2018, 35% of those who worked at large companies said that they were highly engaged, while the ratio was 26% last year. Among the smallest SMEs, the figure dropped from 61% to 48%.