From September 1, the maximum duration of a first prescription for sick leave will be limited to 31 days to “counter abuse and reduce the bill” of 17.9 billion euros expected in 2025. According to the DREES, daily sickness benefits reached 10.2 billion euros in 2023. The AXA 2025 barometer confirms the progression of the increase in sick leaveespecially the longest ones. The question therefore no longer concerns only the cost, but what, in the organization of work, pushes so many employees to stop.
In an article in The Conversation, Gabriel Lomellini, assistant professor, Human Resources and Organizational Behavior, ICN Business School, judges that absenteeism is a symptom of the state of the organization. The increase in stops therefore questions the place of management in occupational health, when added management by numbers and toolsartificial intelligence which accelerate the pace. This set of practices helps to understand the explosion of stops.
Sick leave: the role of management
The AXA 2025 barometer shows an average absenteeism rate of 4.76%, with a marked increase among those under 30, who have 105 absences per 100 employees. Among the long stopsTHE psychological disorders
represent 38% of reasons, ahead of musculoskeletal disorders at 27%. Harmonie Santé notes that downtime of more than 90 days only accounts for 7% of the total, but accounts for 45% of daily allowances.
These figures remain silent on what is happening on a daily basis. Claude Veil insisted on the fact that “It is not worker-specific data that plays the biggest role, but rather elements that depend on the company“. THE
management partly fixes the constraints of “real work”: tasks, pace, room for maneuver… For example, for a nurse, quality work requires listening; when the organization prevents this time, suffering sets in and stopping becomes an escape.
Vertical management and numbers: a trying cocktail
In France, many organizations keep a
vertical management and undemocratic. Teleworking during Covid was experienced as a breath of autonomy; the “return to the office” as a regain in control. Quantified indicators have established themselves as a unique compass, in the private sector but also in the public sector with New Public Management. This encrypted management continues in algorithmic managementfrom platforms like Uber to executives working with AI…
Sociologist Marie-Anne Dujarier speaks of “disembodied management”, designed far from the profession and the experiences of employees. Everyone finds themselves constantly evaluated by opaque rating systems and required to adapt in real time to unpredictable algorithms. These management methods now affect professional categories that have long been protected such as journalists or even Hollywood screenwriters, who have mobilized in the face of the risks of AI for their profession.
Sick leave, a message to management
Beyond its many advantages, AI risks intensifying work both physically and mentally. Some people talk about “brain fry” or “grilled brain”. Faced with this phenomenon, work stoppage is sometimes a door to salvation… Management researcher, Pierre-Yves Gomez also sees a social dimension: “Sick leave clearly illustrates the individualization of social demands. Whether it is linked to physical fatigue or psychological suffering, it reflects, like any form of strike, the right to suspend one’s activity in response to the exploitation felt by the worker.. Absenteeism then becomes a signal addressed to management.
Faced with these new risks, Gabriel Lomellini believes that he is “crucial to adopt a holistic and preventive approach to occupational health. In an economy that remains obsessed with performance, sick leave must be interpreted as a harbinger of deep trends in management and our collective relationship to work.“.