The cost of absenteeism from work will rise to 25,000 million in 2023
The problems derived from the pandemic, in terms of the collapse of Spanish public health, have ended up showing the seams of a system in which no remedy has been put in place. In the midst of this chaos, work absenteeism caused by temporary disability due to common contingencies (ITCC) took on an equivalence in which 1.4 million Spaniards did not go to work any day during 2023which represents 7.4% of the total workforce in Spain. Absenteeism is a scourge that has grown by 66% in the last five years and that, according to the latest report from the Association of Work Accident Insurance Companies (AMAT), it is expected that in 2023 it will increase by another 15%, assuming an approximate cost of 25,000 million euros.
Sector sources consulted by this medium point out that its role could help relieve the saturation experienced by public hospitals and discharge those sick leave. common or traumaamong others, already recovered in order to prevent them from spreading over time.
Faced with this situation, they demand that the Government provide legislation that allows them to act “in cases in which public health cannot reach”, AMAT explains to elEconomista.es. To this end, they propose creating a period of less than a week after which mutual insurance companies can carry out registrations, and thus combat absenteeism and health collapse. For now, They are negotiating with several autonomous communities to be able to provide this alternative.
In view of the above, AMAT calls for specifying what is established in the recommendation number 9 of the Toledo Pact Agreements and chapter VII of V Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC), signed between CEOE, Cepyme, CCOO and UGT. This implies the need to reach agreements with the Public Health Services of the Autonomous Communities to restore the health of Workers in optimal terms, reduce unnecessary costs for Companies and Social Security, and contribute to the reduction of waiting lists. in Public Health Services.
According to data from mutual collaborators with Social Security, which cover 79.69% of Workers in the Social Security system, sick leave due to Common Illnesses or Non-Work Accidents increased by 12.02% until September 2023, in compared to the same period in 2022. This means an increase of 436,408 more casualties, reaching a total of 4,066,590 withdrawals started between January and September 2023compared to 3,630,182 in the same period of the previous year.
Facilitate the ability to provide comprehensive health care in sick leave resulting from Common Illnesses or Non-Work Accidents diagnosed as trauma pathologies could speed workers’ recovery in half the time, while reducing costs for Workers, Companies and Social Security. This would have a positive impact on the competitiveness of our productive environment and would encourage job creation.
At the national level, if mutual insurance companies could comprehensively manage sick leave due to common illnesses and non-occupational accidents diagnosed as trauma, a faster recovery would be achieved for workers. generating economic savings estimated at more than 2,370 million euros.
It should be noted that doctors from entities collaborating with Social Security already issue medical reports for sick leave, confirmation and discharge for Work Accidents and Occupational Illnesses. Therefore, the exercise of this jurisdiction for Common Illnesses and Non-Occupational Accidents diagnosed as trauma pathologies would not present complications for these Entities.”
Recover the ‘Escrivá plan’
The mutual societies are requesting a plan similar to the draft that was leaked in March during negotiations between the team of the Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, and AMAT, released by the LAB union.
This document proposed that mutual insurance companies be the central core of the medical care system for the active population, while public health services focus on childhood and retirement. To achieve this, they urged that the autonomous communities delegate to them the management of common sick leave, as well as the control of their tests, treatments, interventions and rehabilitation, all designed by doctors from the mutual insurance companies.
In addition to carrying out treatments, the draft proposed that mutual doctors have the power to discharge sick patients due to common contingencies (all discharges that do not originate from work accidents) and supervise the public service doctor. , having to deliver the reports within five days.
Collective agreements
Within the agreement signed in May, employers and unions demanded the need to monitor sick leave to tackle the problem of absenteeism, and establish measures that improve the health of workers to reduce the “frequency and duration” of time. The text of the AENC states that the agreements establish “procedures and scopes” analysis of sick leave, which includes a study of the causes, incidence and duration of these. They also ask to mark lines of action to reduce “the number of processes and their duration, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of said actions.”
