In 2023, employees in Belgium had lower rates of absenteeism compared to previous years, according to a study conducted by HR services company Acerta. The study found that employees worked an average of 83.3 percent of the time, equivalent to 208 days per year for full-time employees. This marks an increase of 0.8 percentage points from 2022 and is the highest attendance rate in the last five years.
The data for the study was based on approximately 390,000 employees from 30,000 private sector companies. Researchers took into account various reasons for absences such as sick leave, temporary unemployment, career breaks, and holidays. Sickness absence was identified as the main reason for employees being absent from work, with an average of 7.9 percent of working hours lost due to illness in 2023.
However, the problem of absenteeism due to illness was found to be more prevalent in larger companies compared to smaller ones. Companies with over 500 employees had an absenteeism rate of 9.9 percent, which is twice as high as that of the smallest employers at 5 percent. Dirk Vanderhoydonck from Acerta Consult emphasized the positive impact of employees being more available in 2023, especially during times of labor shortages. However, he noted that the significant number of absences due to illness, which cannot be planned by the employer, remains a concern. On average, 20 days of labor are lost each year due to illness, highlighting the importance for companies to address this issue in order to increase productivity.
