Short sick leaves in Finland cost municipal employers heavily. In 2021, a new study by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla) revealed that absences lasting ten days or fewer accounted for a staggering €135 million in expenses for Finnish municipalities. This figure represents more than half of the total sick leave costs for that year.
The data examined 215,000 municipal employees over the years 2019 to 2021. The information was collected by Kela, the Finnish state pension agency. These short absences appear to be a major driver behind rising costs in public sector employee health management.
Researchers at Etla noticed a clear pattern: short sick leaves tend to occur mostly at the beginning of the workweek. However, the frequency of these absences varies widely from one municipality or public organization to another. This inconsistency points toward underlying factors unique to each workplace environment.
The Etla report also highlighted that the financial burden is only part of the story. Recurring short-term sick leaves could suggest deeper challenges related to workload pressures or management practices in municipal workplaces. Staff well-being and work conditions may be contributing factors behind these trends.
Over the three-year period studied, total sick leave costs increased by 17 percent. This rise underlines ongoing structural difficulties in managing workforce health and morale in Finnish municipalities.
While the data focused on officially recorded absences, the study recommends closer attention to the working environment and employee support systems. Monitoring and improving these factors could reduce the frequency of short sick leaves and ease the financial strain on municipal employers.
