WIESLOCH (dpa-AFX) - The mechanical engineering company Heidelberger Druck wants to reduce the sickness rate in the company with financial incentives for its employees. Around 1,100 employees without sick days at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site have been given three net prizes of 800 euros, announced CEO Jürgen Otto. In total, there are around 4,000 employees at the site. The "Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung" had previously reported.

Otto, who came up with the idea, said: "We didn't want to persecute and punish, but we really wanted to express our appreciation to those who really did their job last year without a single day's absence." You don't have to drag yourself to work sick. "But we do have working time options and plenty of vacation entitlements where you can compensate for this if necessary."

CEO speaks of massive cost pressure

The idea came about because Germany has an above-average number of sick days, said Otto. DAK-Gesundheit recently spoke of an average of 19.7 sick days last year based on its own data on insured persons. "We are a little better than the average," said Otto. "In a competitive comparison, if you like, we are naturally under massive pressure in terms of costs anyway." He referred to countries with significantly lower sickness rates, such as Switzerland and Denmark.

The works council clearly criticized the offer. "For all colleagues who are or have been affected by serious illness, this is a slap in the face," said Ralph Arns, Chairman of the employee representative body, to the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung newspaper. If the rewards now being offered are supposed to be motivating, "then this is antiquated and the wrong approach".

Debate about sick days recently flared up again

At the beginning of the year, the debate about absenteeism at work flared up again. The head of the insurance group Allianz, Oliver Bäte, had suggested reintroducing a "waiting day" - in other words, that employees should not receive continued pay for the first day of illness. There was also criticism of the possibility of sick notes for minor complaints by telephone without an extra visit to the doctor's surgery./jak/DP/nas