Poles spent a total of 290.5 million days on sick leave in 2025, around 500,000 more than a year earlier. A total of 27.5 million certificates of temporary incapacity for work were issued through Poland’s Social Insurance Institution, or ZUS, while statistically one in two insured people took sick leave.
Experts argue, however, that the greatest problem for employers is no longer the total number of absence days. Instead, businesses are increasingly affected by short, sudden and difficult-to-predict absences that disrupt entire teams and generate growing organisational costs.
Long-term sick leave can be planned for. Short absences disrupt the entire company
According to the latest ZUS report, 9.8 million sick notes issued in 2025 lasted no more than five days. This included as many as 1.8 million one-day absences, almost 100,000 more than in the previous year.
Experts from Conperio, a Polish consultancy specialising in sickness absence management, say that these short-term absences are becoming one of the greatest challenges facing employers.
“An absence lasting several weeks can usually be anticipated, allowing the employer to arrange a replacement. The situation is completely different when an employee reports a one-day or several-day sick leave only a few hours before the start of a shift,” said Mikołaj Zając, labour market expert and President of Conperio.
“In manufacturing, logistics, retail and services, this means schedules have to be changed immediately, overtime must be arranged and the work of the entire team has to be reorganised. From an organisational perspective, it is this unpredictability that now costs companies the most.”
Data show where the problem is most concentrated
The conclusions of the ZUS report are supported by findings presented in Conperio’s Sickness Absence Barometer 2025.
According to the company’s data, 44% of all one-day sick leaves fall on Fridays and Mondays. Fridays account for 23.6% of these absences, while Mondays represent a further 20.5%.
Experts emphasise that the concentration of sick leave around weekends does not in itself prove that medical certificates are being misused. It does, however, show where companies may need to analyse the issue more closely and improve their work organisation.
“In many companies, we observe that the greatest problem is not the total number of sick leaves, but the fact that they repeatedly occur in particular departments, locations or on specific days of the week,” Zając said.
“Only a detailed analysis of this data makes it possible to distinguish natural seasonal patterns from signals requiring a deeper diagnosis. Sickness absence management should be based on facts, not assumptions.”
Companies scrutinise sick leave more closely following legal changes
The labour market expert also points out that effective absence management has become more important following changes to Poland’s sick-leave regulations that took effect on 13 April 2026.
The amendment did not relax the rules governing the use of sick leave. On the contrary, it clarified the regulations and confirmed the authority of both ZUS and employers to verify whether medical leave is being used correctly.
“Following the legal changes, some employees mistakenly assumed that they were allowed to do more while on sick leave. In practice, the opposite is true,” Zając said.
“It is becoming increasingly important to demonstrate that any activities undertaken during the period of absence genuinely supported the employee’s recovery.
“In the event of a dispute, the employee should be able to provide a credible explanation of their conduct and present appropriate evidence. When irregularities are identified, the loss of entitlement to sickness benefit may apply to the entire period covered by the medical certificate.”
Sickness absence management becomes part of business strategy
During the first 33 days of incapacity for work—or 14 days in the case of employees over the age of 50—sick pay is financed by the employer.
In large organisations, this can result in annual expenditure amounting to several million zlotys.
According to Zając, effective sickness absence management should not be limited to checking whether employees are using medical leave correctly.
Data analysis, the identification of recurring patterns and preventive measures designed to reduce disruption to an organisation’s operations are becoming increasingly important.
“ZUS data illustrate the scale of the phenomenon. For businesses, however, the real challenge is maintaining operational continuity in the face of increasingly unpredictable absences,” the President of Conperio said.
“Today, competitive advantage is not built by companies with the fewest sick leaves, but by those that can anticipate their impact on the organisation and manage it effectively.”
