Sign in. Send email. Copy url:. Szymon Leonik. MichaΕ Smoczok. Zbigniew Religa, Katowice, Poland. PlumX metrics:. Introduction Employee leave is defined as each absence from the workplace leading to a decrease in the effective number of hours that the employee should, referring to the conditions of uninterrupted work, perform each week. The main reasons for employee leave are planned periods of exclusion from professional activity in the form of holiday as well as illness [1].
The time away from work and the rules determining what may be the reason for being absent are governed by the provisions of the Labour Code. The purpose of this study is to present the dynamics of changes in sick leave among Poles in , with particular emphasis on causes like mental and behavioural disorders.
Our analysis did not cover social conditions that also affect sick leave in Poland. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the reasons for issuing medical certificates of temporary incapacity to work provide information which enables us to monitor the tendency of occurrence of specific diseases in the population [2]. Qualitative analysis is also a source of data on the influence of the work environment and its associated risks on the occurrence of specific disease entities.
This seems to be particularly important in the context of diseases affecting mental health because this aspect is often overlooked in our society. The presence of Poland among the leading European countries in terms of the length of sick leave is alarming.
This tendency is negative and causes a negative economic effect as well as being a health hazard to employees. This results in reduced productivity during the illness period and a lack of treatment leading to full recovery [3]. In recent years, an increasing number of Poles have reported ailments related to mental and behavioural disorders. This trend is visible in statistical data published by many institutions. Unfortunately, there is lack of systematic studies in the form of epidemiological indicators casting light on this problem in society.
