61,000 Canarians did not go to work any day in 2023

While they continue studying formulas to stop it Canary Islands He is currently running alongside Galicia and the Basque Country the autonomous community with the highest degree of absenteeism due to temporary disability with a rate close to 7%as reflected in a study on the temporary disability and accident rate of Spanish workers, prepared by Umivale Activa, in collaboration with the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE).

Since 2007Before the great economic crisis, absenteeism from work in the Canary Islands stood at 3.6% of the total number of employees. The 2023 data reflects that this parameter has increased by about 40%touching 5% of the total number of employed people (903,196).

During 2023, 61,000 Canarian workers did not go to work in none of the 365 days for temporary disability, which is equivalent to a average of 25 days of absence per year for each worker. According to the report, in 2023 more than 396 million working days were lost in Spain as a result of temporary disability processes, 62% more than in 2018. Among those who did not go to their workplace at any time during the year, This figure rises to 1.1 million, or in other words, an average of 20 days of absence per year per employee.

Reasons for the increase

In the study, they determine that they are multiple factors of the work itself and the companies that affect temporary disability, whether working conditions, human resources policies and practices or the company’s own culture. In addition to important external factors to work, such as the family situation and the social and cultural context, among others.

One of the researchers of the report, Consuelo Mínguez, considered that the ways of acting and facing the situation of temporary disability by the different interest groups are also relevant. Prevention actions, effective and agile healing, the promotion of healthy living in the company and its practice by workers also in other areas of life are “fundamental.”

Furthermore, the study highlights that it is important to practice fair management, which controls abuses and inappropriate uses, identifies irregularities and uses resources efficiently for effective diagnosis, treatment and recovery. They express that the role that personal responsibility plays in the appropriate use of sick leave is no less important, without using them as «“shelter benefits” for other needs that are not contemplated, and the carrying out of inappropriate or clearly fraudulent practices.

Mínguez stressed that what the mutual insurance companies are trying to do is to allow them “to have more power to end a sick leave or to issue medical discharges, to better monitor workers’ sick leave, in order to identify how it can be improved.” Furthermore, he pointed out that It is necessary to know the root of the problem regarding the growth of long-term sickness.

The document reveals that after the pandemic, there are more than 400 casualties per year per 1,000 workers, compared to 300 in 2019. Specifically, in 2023, 450 cases occurred, the highest incidence recorded in the last decade.

It is important to differentiate that these losses are divided into two types: those of common contingencieswhich encompass situations that are not directly linked to the employee’s work activity and the professionalswhich are due to occupational diseases or work accidents.

In the case of absences from work due to common contingencies managed by mutual insurance companies, the annual incidence stands at 409 new processes per thousand workers, an increase of 67% compared to 2013 and 138% in the case of workers who have the coverage of common contingencies in the INSS, with 414 new processes for every thousand employees.

As for the cprofessional incidents, the incidence is more moderatewith 41.6 new processes per thousand workers in the case of mutual companies, and 59.6 in INSS processes.