Year-on-year increases in sick leave have been seen in construction (from 4.9% to 5.3%), commerce (from 5.3% to 5.7%) and transport (from 4.6% to 5.2%). Accommodation services show the highest rate, rising from 7.6% to 9.4%. This is a problem that is further aggravated during the peak months of the tourist season: the percentages shown are annual averages that rise sharply when they are limited to an eight-month period, from March to October.
Absenteeism in hotels and other accommodation services rises to 14.6%. Catering, on the other hand, reaches 9.5% in that period, while the annual average is halved to 4.8%. The Mallorca Hotel Federation (FEHM) is working on even higher numbers. Its president, Javier Vich, explains that sick leave been increasing since the pandemic. His calculations put the absenteeism rate at between 20% and 30%. “In our sector the problem is greater,” he says, emphasising that this is going to be one of the main points on the negotiating table for the hospitality industry agreement.
“We want to address this issue with the unions, especially for the workers who are left taking on all the tasks in those workforces when their colleagues do not come to work.” Meanwhile, the regional government is working on its own emergency plan: a new project to improve the figures for absenteeism and workplace accidents, two interrelated phenomena. “Sick leave leads to work overload and this leads to accidents,” says the regional secretary for Labour, Employment and Social Dialogue, Catalina Cabrer.
The project will try to put a brake on this upward trend through different working groups. The idea is to strengthen collaboration between all parties to refine the processes for monitoring sick leave, simplify administrative procedures and reduce the accident rate. Planned actions include streamlining diagnostic tests and creating a shared control of medical records. The latter measure is being worked on in particular to avoid possible incompatibilities with data protection law.
“Safety and health come first, but we all have to use the system responsibly. Public bodies first,” says Cabrer, adding that the plan will also include measures to protect workers’ mental health, occupational risk management campaigns and actions to promote work-life balance. The government and the unions also agree that the long waiting lists for medical care are one of the main reasons for the lengthening of sick leave.
The CCOO union says that the delay in medical appointments prolongs the time that the employee spends off, which is why they are calling for an improvement in primary care services. According to the unions, mental health problems are a major cause of long-term sick leave. In recent years there has been a significant increase in psychosocial risks and it is due to companies’ inaction. The vast majority of employers do not carry out psychosocial assessments. They are largely ignored, despite being mandatory, the unions has stated.
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