What is the cost of a sick employee? In short, during long-term illness you continue to pay wages for up to 104 weeks, plus the cost of reintegration and absence management. If you do too little on reintegration, UWV can add a wage sanction of up to 52 weeks on top. This article lists what those costs consist of and how timely reintegration keeps a grip on the total amount.
What is the cost of a sick employee?
The cost of a sick employee has no fixed figure, because it depends on salary, duration of absence and the effort required. Even so, the structure of the costs is the same for every employer. In essence you face three items.
- Continued pay: you keep paying wages for as long as the employee is ill, up to a maximum of 104 weeks.
- Reintegration and absence costs: costs for the company doctor, occupational health service, guidance and possibly a second-track programme.
- Risk costs: a possible wage sanction and lost output or replacement during the absence.
So the cost of a sick employee rises the longer the absence lasts. That is why it is wise to steer toward recovery and return to work from the first sick note, rather than acting only once the costs have already mounted.
Continued pay during illness
The largest cost item for a sick employee is continued pay. As an employer you are legally required to keep paying wages during illness for up to 104 weeks. During that period a lower limit of 70 percent of the wage usually applies, but many collective agreements set this higher, for example 100 percent in the first year and 70 percent in the second year.
So calculate carefully what a sick employee costs in wages over two years: that is a considerable amount, certainly at higher salaries. To learn exactly which rules apply, read more about continued pay during illness for employers. Important to know: this obligation is separate from whether the employee can perform work. Even if there is no suitable work, the continued pay runs on. That makes timely, well-documented reintegration not only a legal duty but a financial necessity.
Besides the gross wage, as an employer you also keep paying the social security contributions and pension accrual, while the sick employee delivers no revenue or output. With partial recovery, part of the wage cost can be offset by the work that is resumed, but the rest remains yours to bear. Seen this way, what a sick employee costs in wages is almost always the decisive factor in the total picture, and it is exactly this item you can shorten with quick, targeted return to work.
Reintegration and absence costs
Besides wages, the guidance determines the cost of a sick employee. From day one you are responsible for absence management and reintegration under the Dutch Gatekeeper Improvement Act. That brings both fixed and variable costs.
Think of the costs of the company doctor and occupational health service, an occupational expert assessment and, if a return to the original role fails, a second-track programme at another company. The amount varies per situation; an overview of the cost of a second-track programme helps you make a realistic estimate. To understand the cost of a sick employee in terms of guidance, it is smart to know the full obligations. The step-by-step Gatekeeper plan for employers shows which steps and documents UWV expects, from problem analysis to action plan and evaluations. Following these steps neatly prevents unnecessary extra costs later in the process.
Limiting costs with timely reintegration
The biggest saving lies in preventing a wage sanction. If UWV finds at the WIA assessment that you did too little on reintegration, it extends your continued-pay obligation by up to 52 weeks. The cost of a sick employee can then rise sharply, because you pay an extra year of wages without work in return. The cost of a wage sanction for the employer is therefore often many times higher than the cost of a well-managed programme.
Timely reintegration thus limits the cost of a sick employee in two ways. First, you increase the chance of a return to work, so the continued pay lasts a shorter time. Second, you build a file that passes UWV review, reducing the risk of those extra 52 weeks. So make sure you clearly understand the employer obligations in second-track reintegration and start a suitable programme in good time once a return to the original role becomes unlikely.
Keep in mind that the transition payment compensation disappears from 2027, which can make that cost item larger for employers.
More information at the UWV
The official rules and current amounts or deadlines are available at UWV about reintegration. These can change, so always check them at the source itself for a concrete situation.
Support with a sick employee
The cost of a sick employee is therefore partly fixed and partly within your control. The continued pay of up to 104 weeks is fixed, but with professional guidance you can strongly reduce the duration of the absence and the risk of a wage sanction. If you want to know how second-track reintegration works, it starts with a timely and careful approach.
Care4Careers supports employers in limiting absence costs and building a UWV-proof file. Discover how our second-track reintegration for employers takes the burden off your hands and plan a no-obligation advisory call to calculate your situation.