MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte recommends that sick pay on the first day of illness be eliminated. "I propose reintroducing the waiting day. This would mean that employees would bear the costs for the first day of illness themselves," the CEO told Handelsblatt. This would ease the burden on employers. In contrast to some other countries, Germany has had a policy of continued wage payments from the first day of illness for decades.
The Allianz CEO views the high rate of sick leave in Germany as a cost problem. According to the Federal Statistical Office, employees in Germany were reported sick for an average of 15.1 working days.
The DAK-Gesundheit health insurance company even reports an even higher average for the past year: according to the company, well over half of the people insured with DAK had at least one sick note between January and December 2023. According to DAK, this amounted to an average of 20 sick days per person over the entire year./dmo/DP/men