Absenteeism among healthcare workers: causes, figures and solutions for healthcare facilities
Posté le
Key takeaways:
- The absenteeism rate in the French public hospital service remains 2 to 3 times higher than in other economic sectors.
- Public hospital staff were absent for health reasons for an average of 14 days in 2023, compared with 18.1 days in 2022.
- In medico-social establishments (ESMS), the absenteeism rate reached 11.5% in 2023, with peaks of 14.7% in specialised care homes.
- The main causes are workload, burnout, understaffing and a lack of listening to teams.
- A prevention policy combining better working conditions, continuous listening and the involvement of healthcare managers reduces absenteeism over the long term.
Understanding absenteeism among healthcare staff: definition and challenges
Absenteeism among healthcare staff covers all unplanned absences of medical and paramedical personnel. It weighs directly on how care is organised and on the workload of the teams on duty.
What does absenteeism mean in the healthcare sector?
In healthcare, absenteeism refers to absences due to ordinary illness, workplace accidents, long-term sick leave (CLM or CLD in France) and repeated short-term absences.
It differs from annual leave, compensatory time off or maternity leave, which are planned entitlements rather than unplanned absences.
The absenteeism rate is based on the ratio between the hours of absence recorded and the theoretical working hours over a given period. It is tracked by staff category and type of absence in order to identify the most relevant levers for action.
What makes absenteeism among healthcare workers specific
Absenteeism among healthcare workers has characteristics specific to the sector. It primarily affects nursing and care staff (nurses, care assistants, hospital service staff), who have the highest rates within facilities, ahead of medical staff.
Several structural factors explain this:
- an ageing care workforce, more exposed to long-term absences (long-term sick leave, workplace accidents)
- a high proportion of women in the workforce, a factor associated with higher absenteeism according to DARES studies
- physical and psychological strain specific to care professions, absent from most other sectors
- absenteeism more closely linked to working conditions than to personal reasons
Absenteeism rates among healthcare workers: key figures and trends in 2026
The most recent available data give a precise picture of absenteeism in healthcare, ahead of the consolidated 2026 figures expected at the end of the year.
Absenteeism statistics in the public hospital service
The absenteeism rate in the French public hospital service (FPH) remains structurally 2 to 3 times higher than in other sectors of the economy, and the gap continues to widen.
In terms of average length of absence, the recent trend is improving: 14 days on average in 2023, compared with 18.1 days in 2022, the sharpest drop across the three branches of the French civil service.
Key figures by institution
- AP-HP: absenteeism rate fell from 8.76% in 2022 to 7.49% in 2023.
- AP-HM: 10.77% in 2024, after a peak of 12.55% in 2022.
- FPH: the highest average length of absence after the local civil service, despite the recent decline.
Comparison between public hospitals and medico-social establishments
Medico-social establishments and services (ESMS) show absenteeism levels comparable to, or even higher than, those of public hospitals. The absenteeism rate in ESMS reached 13.0% in 2022 before falling back to 11.5% in 2023, returning to its pre-pandemic level.
This average hides major differences depending on the type of facility: specialised care homes (MAS) had an absenteeism rate of 14.7% in 2023, compared with 13.5% in medicalised care homes (FAM) and 11.4% in nursing homes (EHPAD). These differences reflect variations in strain and workload depending on the people cared for.
Average length of absences among healthcare professionals
The average length of absence varies widely by staff category. Historically, non-medical staff (nurses, care assistants, service staff) have accumulated much longer absences than medical staff, with the gap ranging from one to three times depending on the year and the facility.
This trend towards longer absences, already observed over the past ten years, remains a major concern for HR management in healthcare facilities, beyond the frequency of absences alone.
Main causes of absenteeism among healthcare staff
The causes of absenteeism among healthcare workers are multifactorial: working conditions, psychosocial risks, work organisation and staff availability.
Difficult working conditions and mental load
Chronic understaffing in many hospital and medico-social departments leads to a continuous intensification of the pace of work. Every absence that is not covered shifts the workload onto colleagues who are present, creating a vicious circle of overload and new absences.
On top of this physical load comes a heavy mental load, linked to constant responsibility for patients, quick decision-making and repeated exposure to emotionally difficult situations.
Psychosocial risks and burnout
Constant contact with suffering and illness, combined with ongoing time pressure, exposes healthcare workers to a high risk of psychosocial disorders. Nurse burnout is now among the leading causes of long-term sick leave in the sector, alongside musculoskeletal disorders.
Short-term sick leave, often linked to psychosocial factors, is also rising sharply nationally, a signal that also concerns the healthcare sector.
Work organisation and lack of staff
Almost all healthcare facilities now struggle to recruit paramedical staff, which creates constant pressure on schedules and makes it harder to cover absences.
In practice, this shortage results in increased fatigue among healthcare workers, observed in the vast majority of facilities, and greater use of overtime, which reaches particularly high levels outside university hospitals.
Impact of insufficient replacements on teams
When absences are not covered, the workload immediately shifts onto the teams on duty. Overload fuels exhaustion, which in turn leads to new absences.
Consequences of absenteeism for quality of care and hospital organisation
Beyond the direct cost, absenteeism among healthcare workers has concrete repercussions on patient care and on how facilities operate.
Impact on patient care
A lack of trained staff in certain positions, a direct consequence of uncovered absenteeism, undermines the continuity and quality of care. Relying on staff who are unfamiliar with a department or less experienced can also increase the risk of errors and lengthen waiting times.
Financial cost for healthcare facilities
Absenteeism represents a considerable financial cost for the healthcare system. Across the French civil service, absenteeism is equivalent to 300,000 to 350,000 full-time jobs and costs the administration around €15 billion a year, across all branches.
At the level of a single facility, this cost shows up in particular in the use of temporary medical and paramedical staff, whose rates far exceed those of permanent staff, as well as in daily sickness allowances and salary continuation.
Domino effect on the teams present
Untreated absenteeism creates a well-documented domino effect: the overload on the teams on duty increases their own risk of exhaustion and therefore of future absence. This mechanism explains why absenteeism, once established, tends to perpetuate itself unless corrective action targets the root causes rather than just the symptoms.
Solutions and strategies to tackle absenteeism among healthcare workers
Reducing absenteeism over the long term requires an approach that combines working conditions, psychosocial risk prevention, HR management and data-driven management.
Improving working conditions and quality of working life
- Better scheduling and a reduction in unwanted overtime
- Investment in equipment and workstation ergonomics
- Integrating these actions into a quality-of-working-life approach driven by HR policy
Preventing psychosocial risks and supporting teams
- Early identification of signs of distress, before sick leave
- Regular listening systems for care teams, complementing the annual social report and appraisals
- Detecting weak signals department by department, without replacing managers’ human support
Optimising human resources management
- Tracking broken down by department, job category and type of absence
- Targeted corrective actions rather than one-size-fits-all measures
Digital tools to measure and manage absenteeism
- Continuous management rather than a one-off annual review
- Early detection of upward trends to adjust actions
- Cross-referencing absenteeism indicators with the workplace climate as perceived by teams
Frequently asked questions about absenteeism among healthcare workers
What is the average absenteeism rate in the hospital sector in France?
The absenteeism rate in the public hospital service remains 2 to 3 times higher than in other sectors. Staff were absent for an average of 14 days in 2023.
In medico-social establishments, the overall rate stood at 11.5% the same year, with differences depending on the type of facility.
How do you calculate the absenteeism rate in a healthcare facility?
The rate is calculated by dividing the number of hours of absence by the number of theoretical working hours, then multiplying by 100.
It is recommended to refine this calculation by department, job category and type of absence to guide corrective actions.
What are employers’ legal obligations regarding absenteeism?
In France, the employer must organise a return-to-work medical check-up after an absence of at least 30 days (workplace accident), 60 days (non-occupational illness or accident), or after maternity leave.
This check-up must take place no later than 8 days after the actual return to work. Until it has taken place, the contract remains suspended and the absence cannot be held against the employee.
How can healthcare managers be involved in preventing absenteeism?
Healthcare managers play a front-line role in the early detection of distress within their teams.
Giving them simple monitoring tools, training them to spot weak signals and allowing them room for manoeuvre strengthens the effectiveness of prevention policies.
