Rising sick leave costs Dutch municipalities around €1 billion in lost capacity

Sick leave among employees at Dutch municipalities climbed to 7.1 percent in 2025, according to figures released Tuesday by A&O fonds Gemeenten. The organization said the absenteeism rate has reached its highest level in over two decades. The productivity loss linked to roughly 15,000 absent municipal employees amounts to an estimated one billion euros in value. To cover the shortfall, local governments are increasingly relying on costly external consultants and freelance professionals.

Residents are increasingly feeling the impact of high staff absenteeism in municipal services, particularly at public counters and in support departments. Local authorities are no longer always able to assist households in financial difficulty promptly. As a result, requests for care, youth services, or support under the Social Support Act (Wmo) are experiencing considerable delays, BNR reports.

73 percent of municipalities experienced staff shortages over the past year. Vacancies are especially hard to fill in spatial planning, housing, and ICT, according to the fund. “These are precisely the areas that are crucial for housing construction and the energy transition.”

The data was published in the annual Municipal Personnel Monitor compiled by A&O fonds Gemeenten, a municipal training and development fund overseen by both employer and employee representatives.

A&O said the higher absenteeism rate was driven largely by a rise in long-term sick leave, increasing from 5.2 percent to 5.6 percent. The fund identified physical conditions as the leading cause, with work pressure and stress ranking next.

Private-life factors are becoming a more significant contributor to absenteeism as well. According to the fund, 55 percent of municipalities now list personal circumstances among the top three causes, up 8 percentage points from before. Almost 72 percent reported introducing measures aimed at easing workload and stress levels.

Slightly less than half of all new hires, 45 percent, are younger than 35. Municipalities are finding it difficult to keep this group: around 25 percent of employees who leave are also under 35. The main reason they give for resigning is a lack of career progression. Nearly 46 percent of departing staff had been employed for less than three years.

Women make up 48 percent of municipal leadership positions, nearly half and well above the national average of 30 percent. Altogether, Dutch municipalities employ close to 208,000 people across 342 local authorities. However, sector growth has been tapering off in recent years, falling to 3.6 percent in 2025 after 4.6 percent in 2024 and 5.6 percent in 2023.