Number of sick days taken by public servants growing post-COVID

Federal public servants took fewer sick days during peak pandemic remote work, but sick leave has now risen to pre-COVID levels, with 9.2 days on average in 2023–24.

Federal public servants were less likely to call in sick to work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, new government data shows.

The figures shared by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat indicate that in 2020-21, when the pandemic had most office employees working entirely remotely, the average number of sick days for the public service was 5.9.

That number grew to 8.1 in 2021-22, 8.8 in 2022-23 and 9.2 days in 2023-24.

Most office workers stayed home to work during the pandemic for much of 2020 and 2021. While some federal office employees returned to in-person work in 2022, it was only in the first few months of 2023 that all public servants were gradually ordered back to the office for at least two or three days a week.

Before then, the data shows that public servants took an average of 9.6 sick days in 2019-20, 9.8 days in 2018-19 and an average of 10.4 days in 2017-18.

Dr. Alykhan Abdulla, a family doctor and board director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, said reduced exposure is one of the main drivers of reduced sick days.

Abdulla said employees could have also worked from home if they were sick during the pandemic, though maybe less productively.

Abdulla said sick days could be rising again due to people’s increase in exposure or their unwillingness to return to the office post-pandemic. He said he expects the number to rise beyond pre-pandemic rates due to factors like delayed health care, more exposures, mental health illness and financial struggles.