Psychological stress in healthcare: Hessen above the national average!

Psychological stress in healthcare: Hessen above the national average!

In 2024, employees in the healthcare system in Hesse had the highest loss of work due to mental illnesses compared to other industries. This reports Welt and is based on data from the "psycheport" of the DAK, which was created by the IGES-Institut. The analysis is based on the sick leave of around 262,000 DAK-insured employees and shows that mental illnesses led to 487 shortages per 100 employees in the healthcare sector. In contrast, the average number for all industries was 348 absent days.

The DAK head of the state Britta Dalhoff emphasizes the high burden of employees in the healthcare system in Hesse and demands increased education about the causes of mental illnesses and strengthening mental health through occupational health management. Hessen is slightly above the nationwide average of the absent days.

mental illnesses widespread

As part of the 2025 psych report, comprehensive data on mental illnesses were determined. For this report, the DAK analyzed the sick leave of around 2.42 million employees who were insured in 2024. The results show that mental illnesses made 17.4 percent of the sick leave of the DAK insured persons. In addition, seven percent of these employees had at least one sick leave due to psychological problems in 2024.

The statistics indicate that women in particular are significantly affected by 431 shortage than men who have an average of 266 absenteeism. The average period was 33 days. This makes it clear that the topic of mental health in the world of work is of increasing importance, especially in the health sector.

comparison of industries and specific stress

The figures illustrate that the psychological stress in healthcare is significantly higher than in public administration, where 402 incapacity for work was recorded. Employees in childcare even had 586 mentally related absent days each each, in the care of the elderly there were 573 absent days. These industries show that social professions have up to 71 percent more psychological absences than the average.

Another interesting aspect of the study is the increase in short sick leave between 2023 and 2024. The shares of one to three-day disease spaces rose by 6.3 percent. At the same time, the proportion of long -term sick leave, which lasts for more than 42 days, fell by 2.5 percent. This could indicate increasing dynamics in dealing with mental illnesses.

The way to improve

The DAK recommends a targeted implementation of company health management (BGM) to counteract the constantly growing number of mental illnesses. This recommendation is in the context of several studies that examine the connection between the health of employees and the economic success of companies. A research study by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as well as the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research focuses on the importance of a healthy work environment that is increasingly come to the fore by Covid-19 href = "https://www.bmas.de/de/service/publikationen/forschungsberichten/fb-622-physische-psychische-gesundheit-deutsche-betriebl"> bmas .