Last year, the Occupational Health Service still reported a decline in sickness absence, although it already anticipated that this might be the ‘calm before the storm’, given the announced budget cuts.
Besides a peak during the national flu wave at the start of 2026, the report cites the reorganisation and significant downsizing of professional services staff as contributing factors. It refers to the 2025 annual report of the university's occupational health clinic, which showed that 35 percent of psychological absence was work-related, an increase compared to 2024. Issues such as workload, relationships with supervisors, and social safety regularly feature in consultations.
Technical increase
Sickness absence is considerably higher among the university's service departments (6.56 percent) than among the faculties (2.66 percent).
The report describes this as a ‘technical increase’ and attributes it to delays at the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV). Employees who qualify for a disability benefit assessment under the WIA scheme are still waiting for their cases to be reviewed. Until then, they remain at home and their absence continues to be registered as sickness absence.
Reassessments and appeals are also contributing to longer exit processes and, consequently, higher absence figures.
