What does sick leave caused by MSDs cost a company?
How much sick leave do Danish employees take?
The latest official figures:
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sick days per full-time employee, all sectors, 2023 | 10.2 days | Danmarks Statistik |
| Share of working time lost to own sickness, 2024 | 4.1% | Danmarks Statistik |
| Municipalities, 2024 | 6.8% | Danmarks Statistik |
| Private companies, 2024 | 3.3% | Danmarks Statistik |
| Private sector (DA area), 2025 | 8.5 sick days, 3.8% | Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening |
Sick leave peaked at 11.0 days per full-time employee in 2022 and has fallen since. It is markedly higher in the public sector, where much of the work is physical care.
How much of it is caused by MSDs?
Denmark has no official statistic that splits all sick days by diagnosis, but the link is clear. Among employed Danes aged 25 to 64 (Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, 2017 data):
- 10.7% of people with a musculoskeletal condition had more than 25 sick days in a year, against 4.5% of people without. That is 2.4 times as many.
- Among people very bothered by musculoskeletal pain, the share was 12.0% against 4.3%.
- 8.2% of people with a musculoskeletal condition were in flexjob, against 1.7% without.
At EU level, EU-OSHA reports that MSDs account for up to 40% of workers’ compensation costs in some member states and up to 1.6% of GDP. In Germany alone, MSDs are estimated to cost EUR 21.5 billion a year in lost production.
What does a sick day cost an employer?
The direct cost is the salary you pay during the absence. In the Danish private sector, pay during sickness and other paid absence came to DKK 12.68 per working hour in 2025, 3.3% of total employee costs (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening). That figure also includes child’s sick days and parental leave, so it is an upper bound for sickness alone.
The indirect cost is usually larger and harder to see:
- Lost output, or work spread across colleagues
- Overtime and temporary staff
- Recruitment and training if someone leaves
- Lower productivity among people who work with pain
Our ROI calculator assumes the indirect cost is one to five times the direct cost, 2.5 times by default, based on EU-OSHA’s prevention report. Treat it as an estimate and use your own figures where you have them.
How to estimate your own cost
You need four numbers: your number of employees, average salary, sick days per employee per year, and the share you believe is related to musculoskeletal pain. Then:
- Multiply sick days by the share related to MSDs to get MSD days per employee.
- Estimate the cost of one sick day, including indirect costs.
- Multiply by the number of employees.
Our ROI calculator does this for you and shows what a reduction in pain and sick leave would be worth.
What reduces MSD-related sick leave?
- Reduce the risk at the source. Change the tasks, lifts and postures that cause the strain. Start with your risk assessment (APV).
- Act early. Pain that is addressed while people are still at work rarely turns into long absence.
- Support staying active. For back pain, staying at work with adjusted tasks gives better results than rest. See low back pain at work.
- Follow up with data. Track sick leave and pain by department and task, so you know where to act and whether it worked.
Precure’s programs measure strain with wearable sensors and document the change in pain and risk, so the business case rests on your own numbers. See the Ergonomics program.
Sources
- Sygefraværet faldt i 2024, Danmarks Statistik, 2025
- Sygefraværet faldt i 2023, Danmarks Statistik, 2024
- FraværsStatistik 2025, Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, 2026
- StrukturStatistik 2025, Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, 2026
- Muskel- og skeletlidelser i Danmark: nøgletal 2022, Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, SDU, 2022
- Introduction to musculoskeletal disorders, EU-OSHA, OSHwiki, 2026
Written by a physiotherapist. General information, not a diagnosis: see a doctor or physiotherapist about your own pain.