The Netherlands sees sharp rise in sick leave rates for 2025

Figures from occupational health and safety service providers ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare have shown that sick leave rates among workers in the Netherlands remained high throughout 2025. While the flu and colds were behind several absences, stress-related complaints are becoming more common.

Quarter of sick days taken by Dutch workers due to stress

The beginning of 2025 saw sick leave rates reach the highest level since the middle of  the COVID-19 pandemic, and while this calmed down during the summer months, worker absenteeism continued to rise again in September. Indeed, the number of workers reporting sick rose by over 70 percent in September compared to the previous month.

ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare note that, in particular, long-term absenteeism and stress-related absences were consistently increasing throughout the year. The number of workers taking leave due to stress has risen by around 36 percent in the past five years, with one in four absences related to stress. 

Employers should focus on reducing worker absenteeism

While spikes in sick leave rates due to flu waves may lead to a few days of absence, stressed workers could take months off work. This can also happen if healthy employees feel overworked when filling in for sick coworkers. 

For this reason, the organisations believe employers should pay more attention to preventing absenteeism, providing support and improving collaboration between workers and managers this year. "Stress-related absenteeism is not just an individual problem, but also a structural organisational issue," occupational physician and director of medical affairs at ArboNed Redmer van Wijngaarden told NU.nl.