Millions Lost to Sick Days: These Cities and Industries Are Hit Hardest

3 min.

Introduction

Sickness-related absences cost companies not only productivity, but also money through unused office space. This refers to the costs that arise when an office workstation stands empty temporarily due to illness, while the space still has to be paid for. We examined which costs are generated by office workstations left unused because of illness in the 20 largest German cities. To do this, we translated sick days into unused workdays per office workstation and, based on the average space requirement per workstation and the median office rents per city, calculated the respective opportunity costs. The result: In Berlin, opportunity costs can be as high as 160 euros per workstation per year depending on the industry, while in Stuttgart they are sometimes only around 60 euros.

Sick days form the basis of this analysis for calculating opportunity costs. We examined how many workdays office workstations remain unused due to illness in four office industries, and linked these absence days to the average space requirement per workstation and the median office rents in the 20 largest German cities. This makes it clear what costs arise when a workstation stands empty temporarily, while the space allocated for it continues to be paid for. The more sickness-related absence days there are, the higher the modeled costs of unused office space become.

Costs per workspace vary significantly depending on the city and industry.

Opportunity costs per workplace make it clear just how expensive sickness-related absences really are. The highest figures are found in major cities: in Berlin, costs range from 139 to 160 euros per workplace depending on the industry, while in Frankfurt they are between 121 and 139 euros. Hamburg is also at a similarly high level, with costs of 116 to 133 euros. By contrast, cities like Munich come out significantly lower, where costs are noticeably more moderate at 92 to 105 euros per workplace. The difference becomes even clearer in Stuttgart, where costs are only between 62 and 72 euros depending on the industry. The range within individual cities is also striking: even in smaller large cities such as Duisburg (76 to 88 euros) or Leipzig (67 to 77 euros), costs vary depending on the sector. The lowest values are found in Wuppertal, with just 49 to 57 euros per workplace.

Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich: Where Costs Are Highest

Total opportunity costs are driven primarily by the local rent level. The higher office rents are, the more expensive unused workstations become. Accordingly, Berlin records the highest absolute opportunity costs at EUR 36.5 million per year. Frankfurt (EUR 21.7 million) and Munich (EUR 20.9 million) follow well behind. Hamburg is also at a high level, with EUR 19.6 million. The figures are significantly lower in smaller major cities: Leipzig has the lowest total costs at EUR 171,500. Losses are also lower in smaller major cities such as Wuppertal (EUR 537,100), Bochum (EUR 686,400), and Duisburg (EUR 865,400).

Digital industries are the most expensive per workstation

Clear differences in cost structure also emerge in the industry comparison. The highest absolute opportunity costs are found in information and communication: here, losses add up to around EUR 59.6 million. Financial and insurance services also record high total costs at EUR 41.4 million, as do business consulting and management at EUR 33.1 million. Losses are lowest, at around EUR 16.3 million, in legal and tax advisory services as well as auditing.

Development from 2020 to 2024

Between 2020 and 2024, the opportunity costs reported in the analysis across all 20 cities and four sectors rose from €96.8 million to €147.1 million. At the same time, the modeled number of office workstations increased from 1.23 million to 1.37 million. On average across all sectors considered, the number of sick leave days per office workstation rose from 8.9 in 2020 to 11.6 in 2024. In the Information and Communication sector, the number of office workstations increased from around 487,000 to around 558,000. At the same time, the opportunity costs in this sector also rose from €33.7 million to €56.3 million. This is driven both by the larger number of office workstations and by the increased number of sick leave days per workstation. In management consulting as well as in corporate administration and management, the number of office workstations grew from around 245,000 to around 290,000, pushing opportunity costs up from €20.6 million to €33.1 million. Opportunity costs also rose in financial and insurance services from €30.9 million to €41.4 million, and in legal and tax advisory as well as auditing from €11.4 million to €16.3 million. Another notable point: the ten largest percentage increases in sick leave days are all in the Information and Communication sector, and in all ten cases the increase is above 40 percent.

“Sick leave not only creates staffing costs, but also economic costs through unused office space,” says Lucian Holtwiesche, Co-Founder of anny. “The workstation remains in place even though it is temporarily unused. Especially in cities with high office rents, this quickly adds up to significant opportunity costs. Across Germany, that amounts to around €150.4 million per year, which corresponds to an average of €87.87 per workstation.”

“Rigid office structures are no longer fit for purpose for many companies. With working from home and flexible work models, it is often no longer necessary to reserve a fixed workstation for every employee. Desk sharing makes it possible to allocate workspaces dynamically, for example by having multiple employees share a desk depending on who is in the office. This allows companies to reduce office space and significantly cut costs.”

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