These are some of the conclusions that can be drawn from the figures in the annual report on absence due to illness 2020. Luc Renierkens, who works for the external company Human Capital Care, presented the figures to the University Council last Wednesday. The reason for the decline is most likely “Covid-related,” Renierkens thinks. “It is possible that this is related to the lack of reporting in: people don’t report in sick, because due to the virus they didn’t need to go to their work. Not being well for a day was simply solved by compensating at another time.” The fact that people stayed at home longer can also be explained by Covid, says Renierkens. “A lot of care was postponed, because of which people were waiting for longer on their treatment.”
Surprisingly, academic staff reported in sick less often than support staff: approximately three times less. Among academic staff there were also much more people who – outside their holidays – missed no days of work: 79 per cent compared to 55 per cent among administrative and support staff. The latter figures are strange, says Mark Govers, University Council member on behalf of the academic staff. “You would expect higher figures for academic staff, because the work pressure caused by online education in the past year increased tremendously. That has an impact on mental health. There seem to be two realities.” Renierkens: “The average employee has had more freedom to plan their working hours in the past year, maybe that provided more mental peace and quiet?”
Another striking observation was that absence due to illness was highest at the service centres. IT staff took the lead with 4.7 per cent. This means that on an average day in 2020, no work took place for 4.7 per cent of the number of hours due to illness. The University Library, with 2.6 per cent, was the only service centre below the UM average of 2.7 per cent. All faculties are also below this figure. People are the healthiest (with only 1.5 per cent absence through illness) at the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Lastly, women stayed at home (3.4 per cent) more often than men (1.9 per cent). These are the same figures as in 2019. In the years before that, the differences were greater. “So it is, fortunately, on the decrease,” says Renierkens.