Facing the high sick leave rates in many companies and businesses, former chief of the economic council, Lars Feld, is calling for the abolition of medical certificates by phone.
“Our sick leave rates are too high” Feld told the T-Online news portal. The Germans are not any more or less healthy than the Swiss, “but apparently, the framework conditions here encourage the Germans to report sick more often than the people in our neighboring country” the economist said. “Therefore, the medical certificate by phone should be abolished.”
Furthermore, the payment of wages during illness and the sickness benefit should “be put to the test again, particularly with regard to the access conditions” after a long time. Feld: “In Switzerland, there are no automatic access to these; the insured must purchase this as an additional service.” While no one should drag an infectious disease to the office, it is sensible to ask where the structurally higher sick leave rate in Germany comes from. “We must not think about how to work less. We must all work more. Otherwise, Germany will become poorer.