Official data points less to a spike than to longer absences, tighter cover, and harder reintegration.
On Monday morning, Dutch burn-out pressure rarely arrives as a policy topic. It arrives as a gap in next week’s roster, a customer who still expects the work, and a founder wondering whether the same two colleagues can take another emergency shift without making the problem worse.
The signal has to become readable
CBS puts employee sickness absence at 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 2026, equal to a year earlier and still above the long-term average of 5.0 percent since 1996. Over 2025 as a whole, sickness absence was 5.4 percent and rose for the first time after two years of decline. UWV adds the longer shadow: psychological complaints are feeding more WIA inflow.
The number is not the whole risk
In 2025, flu, colds, or other virus infections were the most common reason for the most recent absence case, at 54.8 percent. Psychological complaints, overstrain, or burn-out were 8.8 percent. That is not the biggest category by count. It is the one that stretches calendars.
For that group, CBS recorded an average duration of 66.6 working days, with a median of 30. Half of those cases lasted between 20 and 210 working days. That is more than a bad week. It is a quarter, sometimes a season.
What the signal changes
CBS also uses the term work-related psychological fatigue in its labour data. The wording is careful. In 2025, 21 percent of employees felt psychologically fatigued by work at least several times per month, up from 13 percent ten years earlier. Among self-employed entrepreneurs, the figure was 12 percent.
The roster carries the first shock
The small-firm numbers can look calmer. CBS recorded sickness absence of 2.8 percent among firms with fewer than ten employees in the first quarter of 2026. Yet one absent worker in a six-person installation business can remove the planner, the certified mechanic, or the person who keeps invoices moving.
Replacement is tight. CBS counted 378,000 open vacancies at the end of the first quarter of 2026. UWV still classified 87 of 93 occupational groups as tight or very tight, especially in technical work and care and welfare. The market does not hand over spare hands on command.
Meanwhile, costs build quietly. Wages continue. Overtime rises. Agency cover is expensive. Delivery slows. The founder loses hours to coordination and margin follow-up. CBS also showed cao wages and contractual labour costs 4.2 percent higher in May 2026 than a year earlier.
The legal rhythm is slower
This is where HR becomes governance. The Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie treats psychosocial workload as an Arbowet issue. It includes work pressure, aggression, violence, discrimination, bullying, and sexual intimidation. Rijksoverheid places the RI&E, sickness absence policy, prevention officer, and plan of action inside the ordinary health and safety structure.
Even so, the employer does not need medical detail. UWV says the occupational physician or occupational health service assesses work possibilities. The problem analysis forms the basis for the plan of action, while medical and privacy-sensitive information stays protected unless the employee gives permission. Good management tracks what work is possible and what has been agreed.
What founders should check
Once absence runs on, dates matter. UWV says the plan of action must be made within two weeks after the problem analysis. Employer and employee should review progress at least once every six weeks. If the employee is not fully back after 42 weeks, the employer must notify UWV no later than the first working day after that point. A late notification can lead to a fine of up to €455.
What a founder should see early
The practical question is not whether the employer cares. Most founders do. The question is whether the company spots overload early enough to carry a long absence without losing both the person and the rhythm of the business.
A useful review is role-based, not percentage-based. Which absences removed a critical function? Which tasks stopped billing, delivery, compliance, or customer follow-up? Does the RI&E name the real pressure in the work, such as understaffing, deadlines, aggression, poor handover, or repeated emergency cover? Do managers know the privacy boundary when they speak with a sick employee?
The same installation firm returns here. If every absence ends with the same colleague doing evenings, the problem has already moved to the next person. In that case, the better answer may be a cleaner handover, a different planning rule, more hours for someone on a small contract, or pricing that actually pays for backup capacity.
Burn-out pressure is easy to soften into warm language and easy to harden into suspicion. Both miss the point. The sober Dutch reading is simple: long psychological absence is a human event with payroll, roster, RI&E, privacy, and cash consequences. Small employers do not need noise. They need earlier visibility, cleaner records, and enough structure to protect people while the work continues.
Sources
- Randstad: zorgen over meer zieke werknemers door burn-out
- CBS – Sickness absence level in Q1 2026
- CBS – Psychological complaints and absence duration
- CBS – Work-related psychological fatigue
- CBS – Definition of burn-out complaints in CBS labour data
- Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie – Employer duty to manage psychosocial workload
- Rijksoverheid – Basic Arbowet control structure
- Rijksoverheid – Reintegration, wage continuation, and employer record risk
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