Germany already told its workers to ditch four-day weeks and work-life balance—now the government wants to cut their pay for calling in sick too

Most folks have known as in sick no less than as soon as. But in Germany, workers have been taking greater than in the future off sick each month for the previous 12 months—and the government has had sufficient. Now, it is proposing to dock workers’ wages.

German workers take a mean of 14.8 sick days per 12 months, giving the nation one among the highest charges of absenteeism in Europe. For context, that’s 4 instances the UK’s sick depart fee.

And it is costing the nation’s companies round €82 billion ($110 billion) a 12 months, in accordance to the German Institute for the Economy.

So, now Chancellor Friedrich Merz is reportedly contemplating a drastic answer: turning workers to entrance that price.

German workers who take 5 or fewer days off sick will get a bonus

Currently, the nation has a really beneficiant sick depart coverage: up to 6 weeks (30 working days) totally paid for the identical sickness, with a health care provider’s observe. They can take 5 days off sick with out seeing a health care provider in individual, earlier than needing to get a proper extension. And if the worker will get sick once more due to a unique sickness, the 6-week interval restarts.

The Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) proposed plans would see workers’ pay docked from the very first day they name in sick. Meanwhile, workers who take 5 days or fewer would obtain a bonus.

The aim, in accordance to German tabloid Bild — which broke the story over the weekend — is to nudge workers with minor illnesses, like a chilly, again into the workplace reasonably than reaching for the cellphone.

As one government insider put it: “It’s certain that Germany has the highest number of sick days in Europe. Both coalition partners would like to reduce that.”

In 2023, Germans known as in sick practically 20 instances a 12 months—a file excessive. That determine has since fallen for round 5 days, however bosses have still been complaining about “work-shy” Gen Z exploiting the system amid persistently excessive charges in contrast to different European nations.

Merz, in the meantime, has made his emotions in the direction of Germany’s sick depart tradition clear: Earlier this 12 months, he highlighted simply what number of weeks of 14.8 days depart employers excessive and dry: “That’s nearly three weeks in which people in Germany don’t work due to illness,” he harassed. “Is that really necessary?”

He’s additionally blamed the Germans’ life-style method to work for the nation’s low productiveness. Merz said in a recent speech: “To put it even more bluntly: Work-life balance and a four-day week will not be enough to maintain our country’s current level of prosperity in the future, which is why we need to work harder.”

Fortune you’ve gotten reached out to the German government for remark.

Burnout is changing into a serious world concern

Although Germans are main the cost, they’re removed from the solely workforce cracking underneath stress. Burnout has turn out to be one among the defining office crises of the post-pandemic period—and the information suggests it is getting worse, not higher.

One surprising examine highlights that 54% of American workers report feeling sad at work, with the frequency starting from often to continually. Yet they’re nonetheless displaying up for their jobs, sitting at their desks, and silently emotionally struggling.

Office overachievers are so burned out that office consultants have taken inventory of the phenomenon and even given it a reputation: a “competence hangover.”

Research constantly exhibits it is millennials who are burned out the most—the era has wound up in center administration and bearing the brunt of layoffs. And in the UK, a psychological well being disaster amongst younger workers is fueling an emergence in office nervousness, stress, and absenteeism that employers are struggling to get a deal with on. They’re mentally checked out, on common, for in the future every week.

It’s maybe unsurprising that, at the identical time, analysis exhibits workplace politics have made a serious comeback post-pandemic: Return-to-office mandates, AI-driven effectivity, and layoffs have precipitated backstabbing and “workplace incivility” to spiral.

It’s gotten so dangerous that burned-out workers are phoning in sick and more and more utilizing medical depart as a manner to escape—not as a result of they’re really unwell however simply to mentally get better from their “toxic” bosses, decompress, and even job hunt. It maybe may clarify why Germans are pulling sickies so usually.

This story was initially featured on fortune.com