{"locale":"en-DE","entries":{"k1020qjq1ifc":"1413. Figures we deliberately do not use","k1046dwv8a5d":"Screenings","k10cdfisc6xd":"4.1 International#","k10oos9tiuyy":"Mobile navigation","k10qk95h1ot2":"The economic benefit of workplace health promotion is less well evidenced than the German market claims. The most widely cited German return figure comes from a report that admits on the same page that the evidence is 'limited'. Three things, by contrast, are well evidenced, and none of them is a cost saving.","k11t44f395p":"1110. The business case we actually stand behind","k11vrzqkwru":"None of the following four pillars depends on a claim about health costs saved.","k11y1fyu3oby":"This wording is more honest, cheaper to defend and more likely to persuade an occupational physician than any claim of novelty.","k11zu4uvpkyy":"A tool may put a figure on a burden. It may not put a figure on a saving it cannot substantiate.","k125xzal5qk8":"Value 2024","k12blg3swkv":"HEALTH PRIME","k12im1vm32mu":"'ZPP-certified corporate health management'","k12mlre0xyb7":"Source value","k12v85fpkpvi":"Average case duration of mental illness","k12xjnegmj2u":"5","k12zhk9xf580":"Different populations, different standardisation.","k135f3zxihql":"These are BAuA absenteeism costs, valued at gross value added. There is no official German figure for the cost of presenteeism.","k13tj7w2i7c5":"15","k13yp2zcmko8":"Level","k13zpqb02g01":"Link to this section: Further reading","k146076mj82q":"Absence cost calculator","k14vyntvzkbi":"Employees","k14yi1c7tt6f":"Executive Medical Office (for companies)","k14z89kze9b2":"Metric","k14zp6y6m3aq":"Link to this section: How we measure with you, and what we will not claim","k15b0g4hknf":"Section 3(1) EntgFG (continued payment of wages for up to six weeks): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/entgfg/__3.html","k15k8vhvclwr":"Women 60%, men 48%; days worked while ill: women 7.8, men 5.0","k15n6rbyydmr":"Define target groups instead of treating everyone the same","k1617mla66ty":"4.1","k16b7hwq5o8h":"Bowel cancer screening","k16el85wbimh":"Project management, facilitation, internal communication, documentation, evaluation","k16lpr24i6pl":"What is mandatory and what is optional, works council, occupational physician, health insurance fund, taxes and process, with a readiness check and planner.","k16v1ijz79hb":"Pillar 3: employer attractiveness and retention#","k17rvkludqok":"Terms and conditions","k17tcm966a7l":"Section 3 no. 34 EStG: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__3.html","k17yvj4e33xz":"12How we measure with you, and what we will not claim#","k17ze5v864pq":"ROI","k17zu3fd4598":"Link to this section: Pillar 3: employer attractiveness and retention","k186m5d07tlo":"Thyroid ultrasound","k18az8smmoer":"Studies","k18fdd4asq5m":"6.3 Where the days of absence are concentrated#","k18g9x3brcvn":"Official statistics and ministries","k18neabcojoj":"Link to this section: 1.2 And another press release that still echoes today","k18skqf1nnjl":"42,283 thousand","k18tep27majr":"Section 21(1a) ArbSchG (minimum inspection rate of 5% from 2026): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbschg/__21.html","k18vy5sdkc1m":"Close menu","k19803tm2jcu":"9","k19fdx0rqlo6":"21","k19ku9vg2a2j":"Minimum","k19nb71zmojt":"The reported figure of €2,040 loss of gross value added per day of incapacity in real estate and housing is a statistical artefact of very high value added combined with a very small workforce. It is not suitable as a benchmark, and BAuA says so itself.","k1a245ei1mlw":"BAuA, Steinke, M.; Badura, B.: Präsentismus. Ein Review zum Stand der Forschung. Dortmund 2011, ISBN 978-3-88261-126-7. https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Berichte/Gd60.html","k1a4epr0afn2":"Private Medical Office","k1a70ngqh6g2":"Print or save as PDF","k1a7uc6uvce9":"As at September 2026. Next review: March 2027 (WIdO Fehlzeiten-Bilanz), then November 2027 (GKV Präventionsbericht).","k1agm1801646":"Why not","k1aoumep2mqh":"Long-term cases over six weeks","k1axsiylcpns":"Data basis: 32.6 million statutory health insurance member years. The industry tables are based on 16.0 million and are correspondingly less robust.","k1b06vrc1ox8":"11.1 What the tool answers#","k1b8hua8eiwi":"This is the only effect with good evidence, and it is exactly what we deliver. In Germany it is also unusually easy to frame.","k1c14mdeixjn":"before 2000","k1c8h06wo1gv":"For projects in Germany, your point of contact is the Swiss company. Before every project, we clarify the scope, the parties involved and the data protection arrangements in writing.","k1cg30z80n1a":"21. The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it","k1clw82rtqun":"with control group","k1cm4ixs1pio":"Link to this section: 11.5 The budget helper","k1co30ku4z3c":"Production loss","k1cujigjpl08":"Back to home","k1cvc9w578fm":"If someone works out '€2.70 per euro invested' for you, that figure comes from here.","k1czyzy0p7vj":"Techniker Krankenkasse, IFBG und Haufe Personalmagazin: #whatsnext 2025: Gesund arbeiten in herausfordernden Zeiten, fieldwork 6 January to 14 February 2025, n = 1,529 organisations. https://www.tk.de/resource/blob/2197646/74c9dbc71dac772c8cd5d7bb71d2729b/whatsnext-2025-data.pdf","k1d0q2pbbxnd":"Number of employees","k1d42qwi49pj":"Summary","k1d671f0wgiz":"Associations with high work intensity, frequent changes to working hours and low autonomy","k1de89rh5hs3":"Number of employees (full-time equivalents)","k1dl8c991d8i":"Every figure on this page has a named publisher, the year of the data, the year of publication and a link to the primary document.","k1e1ld98u9t":"Modelling","k1e6jza276xl":"Analysis services: incapacity, work situation, age structure analysis, survey, needs workshop","k1eeq5ftt60w":"The figures, verbatim from chapter 11.2:","k1f2qhpqkmtw":"Presenteeism, that is, working while ill, is the strongest argument for workplace health and at the same time the least well evidenced. We make both clear.","k1f2sz5ue4xv":"9.4 The range, and why it is not a trend#","k1f96haul9bx":"Key figures","k1feu6f0bht4":"Two warnings on level 3, which we record in writing before the programme starts:","k1fh2lbau5h7":"Melanoma screening","k1fhn0lqzhi6":"Trend in days of incapacity due to mental illness","k1fly1q5zk53":"Pillar 1: access and uptake#","k1fstccyxsb0":"Introducing a health programme","k1fuh0qldcvr":"Link to this section: 11.2 The legal position in brief","k1fx5qwakjar":"At best an unweighted average from a US meta-analysis.","k1fzrio946xl":"6.2","k1g0ehxbwr3i":"GKV-Spitzenverband: Leitfaden Prävention. Handlungsfelder und Kriterien nach § 20 Abs. 2 SGB V, version of 17 December 2025. https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/media/dokumente/krankenversicherung_1/praevention__selbsthilfe__beratung/praevention/praevention_leitfaden/20251218_Leitfaden_Pravention_2025_barrierefrei.pdf","k1garm7ykthv":"The BAuA figures are macroeconomic. The most direct German figure from a business perspective comes from the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft:","k1gbytoly9n5":"Both core statements are a single US meta-analysis (Baicker et al. 2010), reproduced in a German press release with the currency symbol swapped. The '2,400 studies' are the sum of the primary studies within the included reviews, not studies read by iga.","k1giq6yy6tr6":"Short follow-up, self-selection of the healthy","k1giuxm26rn2":"3.0","k1gxvize8b1w":"Link to this section: 9.4 The range, and why it is not a trend","k1gz9csbqpz7":"This page explains the publicly available evidence and legal position for educational purposes. It is not legal, tax or medical advice. In any individual case, the linked legal texts and your professional advisers are authoritative.","k1h49ubg46dg":"Controls the BAuA default settings and the sector comparison. L 68 Real estate activities is not available; the BAuA itself describes the figure for that sector as an artefact.","k1h932qjfqql":"2.8","k1hfugf3wmtc":"The business case for corporate health management in Germany: evidenced, disputed, not promised","k1hgom5j48uf":"20","k1hmqteubrct":"11.3 The second, usually larger route that almost nobody explains#","k1ho26koipik":"3% of cases account for 40% of days of absence.","k1hoe3ptgnoo":"Not evidenced","k1hoxv7w9y12":"Link to this section: 11.3 The second, usually larger route that almost nobody explains","k1hphlu2r0s9":"Link to this section: The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself","k1i1zx11xh3n":"Link every screening to a named intervention, otherwise it is measurement without consequence","k1iild1e2sih":"Statistisches Bundesamt: press release no. 148 of 29 April 2026, Arbeitskosten je geleisteter Arbeitsstunde 2025. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/04/PD26_148_624.html","k1il8w5iiddm":"© 2013 - 2026 Health Prime AG","k1irf3dj3po8":"'The ROI figures were taken from Baxter et al. (2014). The ROI from the study by Mills et al. 2007 was apparently printed incorrectly as 28.7. The authors give 6.2 in the original.'","k1isaw0g7nhl":"'ROI 2.7' without '1.8' in the same sentence","k1it9r92oiy0":"Link to this section: 9.3 The current German data we work with","k1itj9gtenpj":"Germany","k1j58ubycwik":"Link to this section: Two honest corrections nobody else makes","k1j83b6jwal1":"Song, Z.; Baicker, K.: Effect of a Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health and Economic Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2019;321(15):1491-1501, n = 32,974.","k1je22m6bftn":"1514. FAQs","k1jeqwr1hxfb":"Introducing a health programme in Germany","k1jm79hyq8yn":"9.3 The current German data we work with#","k1kd5b7mpfb8":"BAuA relates the figure to gross national income.","k1kpjjq5pdj8":"Four things about this are noteworthy.","k1l5idq63wa4":"Vein screening","k1lb2r8jv2pq":"Skip to content","k1libwqf9wsl":"This is a documented estimate, not a measurement. But it is the only German figure that describes money employers actually pay out.","k1lr4ktigjcl":"iga, Sockoll, I.; Kramer, I.; Bödeker, W.: iga.Report 13, 1st edition April 2008.","k1ltgixz2nlx":"Contents","k1mjgx8qdp26":"6","k1mspojufycy":"1716. Further reading","k1n1byp1wwoz":"54. What the best studies found","k1n927q29qg6":"Legal notice","k1nfho9xjzt":"Link to this section: 4.1 International","k1nkg6rwaxhm":"Bundesministerium der Finanzen: letter of 20 April 2021, ref. IV C 5 - S 2342/20/10003 :003, Umsetzungshilfe zur steuerlichen Anerkennung von Arbeitgeberleistungen nach § 3 Nummer 34 EStG, published as Annex 18c to the Lohnsteuer-Hinweise. https://esth.bundesfinanzministerium.de/lsth/2023/B-Anhaenge/Anhang-18c/anhang-18c.html","k1npc61r417f":"Rothermund, E. et al. (FRIAA): Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, December 2025, n = 550.","k1npwykdcwo4":"The services are provided in addition to the wages and salary already owed","k1nxyedfi2z1":"14FAQs#","k1o0g49tc7s7":"iga: iga.Report 49. Gesunde, sichere Arbeit: ein Schlüssel für die Arbeitgeberattraktivität?, 2026, n = 1,847. https://www.iga-info.de/veroeffentlichungen/igareporte","k1o28uibypaf":"under 100 participants","k1o7hkik2k1m":"The decisive sentence is in chapter 11 of the same report:","k1ofkhzh8g3t":"K 64-66 Financial and insurance services","k1oly4kh2add":"Service navigation","k1oyc6dze5pi":"12","k1p33qbkt3h1":"ibid.","k1p4ksqs1fa2":"Health day, invoiced as a package with a single total","k1pf81t92vfw":"Medium study quality","k1pims7t7ppa":"Genetic Sciences overview","k1pohdc0blqr":"Link to this section: Disclaimer","k1ppp13vjuku":"109. What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows","k1q0ffkycuo4":"In 2011 the federal institute stated that German-language measurement instruments did not yet exist. Every German euro figure from that period is therefore based on instruments that were never validated for Germany.","k1q6v8w973mj":"1.2","k1q86tmvxy5f":"Table, scrolls horizontally","k1qcl4aapqpu":"ROI in the methodologically robust studies, compared with 2.7 on average across all studies. In the randomised studies, over 50% show no savings at all.","k1qdusqpr86z":"Measure","k1qqpjlzmphh":"25","k1qxf9x8qu8w":"Stratum","k1qxijyjc3rb":"Budget helper under Section 3 no. 34 EStG","k1rbn6iiaode":"Link to this section: The business case we actually stand behind","k1rctc1whd0t":"Link to this section: 7.1 The eAU effect: more transparency, not more illness","k1rge21lk5oa":"Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, Pimpertz, J.: Entgeltfortzahlung bei Krankheit kostet 85,6 Milliarden Euro, IW-Kurzbericht Nr. 57 of 29 August 2026. https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/jochen-pimpertz-entgeltfortzahlung-bei-krankheit-kostet-856-milliarden-euro.html","k1rzdkpmxj7w":"Auer, T. F.; Sennefelder, L.; Meier, H.: Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung: Ein leeres Versprechen? Public Health Forum 2022;30(3):214-216, DOI 10.1515/pubhef-2022-0069.","k1tdrhb830g1":"Health check-up or preventive examination","k1theef8qgc7":"They give no ratio.","k1toapcsnpjw":"All screenings","k1u0zyismry4":"Link to this section: 6.3 Where days of absence are concentrated","k1u8aedbdg6q":"1615. Sources","k1ubmewi2g5x":"Link to this section: 9.2 What the most-cited German source actually says","k1ug2wt9md7q":"3.1","k1uz7s9kb6pu":"1211. Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper","k1vbnfqwfg07":"7Two honest corrections nobody else makes#","k1vkxhbop7yw":"11.5 The budget helper#","k1vnli8ltqs2":"7.2 The six-week limit: why your direct costs are capped#","k1vw3w38dlsv":"Whole economy","k1vz0kbhkyii":"Individual rather than structural interventions","k1w3vvll99sz":"Gloede, D.; Ducki, A.: Die Effizienz betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung. Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung 2011;6:131-137, DOI 10.1007/s11553-010-0275-9.","k1w6dyfocbgd":"Company","k1waf48nc054":"Services","k1wd0sxrvmm5":"8","k1wec0w3ln5x":"Cross-references: Introducing a health programme in Germany (/de-de/bgm-einfuehren), Data protection, confidentiality and co-determination in corporate health management (/de-de/datenschutz-bgm) and the key figures with full source references (/de-de/bgm-zahlen-deutschland).","k1wubzd3wh2n":"Medical Family Office","k1xwy3sb3t2l":"Open menu","k1y86w97nyp2":"€55,600","k1ybfsluatmm":"Vaccinations as recommended by STIKO","k1yc1erqtt4b":"New screenings for 2026","k1yf4pfzi4l5":"€152","k1yigfoztbkp":"Untargeted population programmes show the weakest effects","k1ytv0nl9x6c":"Medical Family Office submenu","k1z0vkp66hl4":"Prevention course under Section 20(4) no. 1 SGB V, certified (exercise, nutrition, stress, addiction)","k1z3hw49bnqx":"Maximum","k1z60edt59fq":"Pillar 2: concentration instead of volume#","k1zbw7km3f8x":"Nutrition coaching","k1zdixa1vkap":"Disputed","k1ze28r3q19o":"11.2 The legal position in brief#","k1zidp0d42el":"This is no criticism of the insurers, who are open about it. It does mean that a provider cannot borrow credibility from the funding body.","k1zpizuukd8e":"Hollederer, A.: Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung in Deutschland: Verbreitung, Inanspruchnahme und soziale Disparitäten in der BIBB-/BAuA-Erwerbstätigenbefragung 2018. Das Gesundheitswesen 2022;84(08-09):753, n = 20,012, DOI 10.1055/s-0042-1753687.","k201dihoypwf":"Facts & Figures submenu","k202qpgmiygh":"More facts on workplace health","k203zomrja7b":"Link to this section: Why US figures do not apply in Germany, as iga itself writes","k20e2arrwinu":"Only for services intended to fall under Section 3 no. 34 EStG.","k20fztmlnouj":"Data protection, confidentiality and co-determination in corporate health management","k20k1h5mys52":"1.8","k20lh65kuifh":"Link to this section: 1.1 The second German ROI tradition has the same source","k20rv7x76xy0":"6The German figures that really count#","k20s8g0psbex":"This calculator shows your cost volume, not your savings potential. No one can reliably predict, for an individual company, how much of it workplace health measures could influence. The methodologically strongest studies find contradictory effects or none. We therefore do not calculate a saving for you.","k20sbm1fa5rf":"C-E 10-39 Manufacturing and production (excluding mining and construction)","k214j6xzqcql":"'ROI 1:2.5 to 1:4.8'","k218t7z0dbrh":"Link to this section: 6.1 BAuA, Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit, data year 2024","k21nerujz210":"Link to this section: 9.1 A misattribution that circulates in Germany, and that we correct","k21t8qgbx1me":"Aldana, S. G.: Financial Impact of Health Promotion Programs: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. American Journal of Health Promotion 2001;15(5):296-320.","k2321frrlzyh":"3.3% of cases, 39.9% of days of incapacity","k23nlqpuy8ej":"Pharmacogenetics","k23rkgomq4wu":"Link to this section: Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design","k241qhc3g5q1":"Screenings submenu","k242g3veie1z":"'€227 billion in presenteeism costs'","k249krnib3po":"The null findings are not an argument against workplace health. They are an argument against a particular way of running it. iga.Report 40 itself names the most likely mechanical explanation:","k24emjk4z7o1":"News","k24fbpode8pk":"DAK-Gesundheit: Gesundheitsreport 2023, 19 April 2023, routine data on 2.4 million insured people plus over 7,000 forsa respondents. https://www.dak.de/dak/unternehmen/reporte-forschung/gesundheitsreport-2023_34592","k24j8mpkqgjz":"9What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows#","k24khm2j4230":"G-I 45-56 Trade, transport and hospitality","k253vo1r43pu":"Context, not a target","k25hhxfxrrz0":"Sector (WZ 2008)","k25qsapnup45":"M-N 69-82 Business services","k263mqp0qvn3":"Occupational reintegration management measures","k263nss60p3r":"11.4 What is expressly not covered#","k26d9cks2yku":"3Why US figures do not apply in Germany, and iga says so itself#","k26krplts457":"Maar, C.; Fricker, R.; Hildebrandt, N.; Drechsler, M.: Vorteil Vorsorge. Booz & Company / Felix Burda Stiftung, 2011. https://www.felix-burda-stiftung.de/sites/default/files/documents/Studie_FBS_Booz_Vorteil_Vorsorge_2011.pdf","k26qub6c3rsu":"Measure reach, not satisfaction; take non-participation seriously as a metric","k26th8v4c1rg":"iga.Report 40, 2019","k26xncpwo78a":"Your assumption","k26yj903sg2l":"'1:5' or 'five to 16 euros'","k26ywz2lcd0a":"Link to this section: Pillar 4: meeting legal obligations and a resilient data architecture","k271hcf07lbz":"20.8","k2759j4waczf":"Meals, travel and accommodation in connection with a measure","k27lh51qr4ic":"11","k27mdtwqynay":"Default 40% (WIdO, Fehlzeiten-Report 2025, data year 2024). Can be overridden.","k27yg0imu1jn":"Link to this section: What the best studies have found","k280drygrmq9":"Value","k285pis0hms8":"Institut DGB-Index Gute Arbeit: Kompakt 01/2025, survey wave 2024, n = 6,985.","k289s6x25u8m":"Consequence for programme design","k28cv8gbdu31":"These two paragraphs are where a German finance team decides whether to trust the rest of the page.","k28dgccfzwc6":"1.1 The second German ROI tradition is the same source#","k28v5z6tew6e":"BAuA's own caveats, which we print rather than hide:","k29drf5rrw81":"Workplace health promotion measure under Section 20b SGB V in the health insurance funds' fields of action","k29fg1gnwd26":"9.2 What the most-cited German source actually says#","k29k72sssi4r":"Health insurance fund data and research","k29n47ahcbud":"Link to this section: Sources","k29rd491eefi":"Main navigation","k29x25gy8w72":"Three points of precision that separate a serious presentation from a careless one:","k2a2u8nkyi6w":"Average employee compensation per working year","k2a6bucvahwr":"6.2 What employers actually pay out#","k2aaj6jiinf":"15.6","k2afguav3n4n":"What we claim about it","k2aga9zfhn8e":"Link to this section: Figures we deliberately do not use","k2artas3j1to":"10","k2aupe7lmw22":"16Further reading#","k2axbqyg8dqz":"WhatsApp Chat","k2axpztv766k":"Loss of gross value added","k2b4rejycesi":"5Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design#","k2batkfdxs5v":"Link to this section: The German figures that really count","k2bi6ktqadyn":"2The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself#","k2bjn19dkiq6":"2.4","k2bt7sdigwmy":"Share of days of absence in cases lasting more than six weeks","k2bx370wquu8":"Suppresses the quality stratification printed on the same page of the same report.","k2c34xprutv7":"4.4","k2c43n8se7ic":"'€348 per day of absence' (8 hours × labour costs per hour)","k2c6z1pxyrzk":"What is robust in Germany is not return figures but cost figures. And they are good: the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health publishes them every year, free of charge, by diagnosis group and industry.","k2c7vx37k0vh":"4","k2ckzuj9yayc":"iga, Kreis, J.; Bödeker, W.: iga.Report 3. Gesundheitlicher und ökonomischer Nutzen betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention, 2003. https://www.dguv.de/medien/inhalt/praevention/praev_lohnt_sich/wirtschaftlichkeit/wirtschaftlichkeit_volkswirtschaft/iga-rep-03.pdf","k2cm2ohhlrhs":"4.9","k2cn4sb2jwiy":"Claim","k2cps1bn8cqo":"Low study quality","k2csrm62xsug":"Massages, physiotherapy treatments","k2cwg2fgz8wx":"Prevention course without certification","k2d33361p7aw":"11Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper#","k2degq3phzod":"Section 42e EStG (binding ruling): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__42e.html","k2doz1etrev4":"The business case for corporate health management in Germany: what is proven, what is disputed, and what we do not promise you","k2dt24cvq6ni":"DAK-Gesundheitsreport 2023, routine data on 2.4 million insured people in employment plus over 7,000 people surveyed representatively by forsa, provides the most useful German presenteeism figure from a business perspective, because it is a comparison of drivers within the same study:","k2dteijdf28p":"J 58-63 Information and communication","k2euzir3abaa":"Link to this section: The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it","k2f1nzrvyfa0":"BMF paras. 4 and 20","k2fgaypnocwn":"The report's verdict, verbatim in two places:","k2flylevxzs7":"Presenteeism is not automatically a loss. For some conditions, continued work is part of the therapy.","k2g6x9f2e6xj":"BAuA: Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung 2024: Entwicklung von Angebot und Teilnahme. baua: Fakten, series BIBB-BAuA-57, 2026. https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Fakten/BIBB-BAuA-57","k2k2wo0a6rl":"The German six-week average (approximated from the share)","k2k573c6hhb":"About us","k2mjtk4i3fn":"32. The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself","k2sr3ntuvgt":"This calculation runs entirely in your browser. No data is transmitted to us.","k2y4ge44o2o":"Fitness studio or sports club membership fees","k31usurqjul":"10The business case we actually stand behind#","k382i8fh5p8":"65. Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design","k3os5o34l2w":"O-Q, S Public and other services, education, health","k3xtaznplwb":"7","k40pe8wqvw7":"Working years lost","k4b1o0v1tsz":"Eye screening","k4b1wgku43m":"Statutory health and accident insurance","k4bdrlznb3b":"3.2","k4ohnz541n5":"6.5%","k4tv1c2owsn":"−3.3","k4wnq4jnhcm":"Production loss per day of incapacity for work in Germany, data year 2024","k59j3jbvqv5":"'How much of our health budget can we use tax-free, and what counts towards it at all?'","k5cxs22xxq":"no control group","k5q6so5b75w":"Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA): Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit 2024. Data year 2024, national accounts as at 21 October 2025. https://www.baua.de/DE/Themen/Monitoring-Evaluation/Zahlen-Daten-Fakten/Kosten-der-Arbeitsunfaehigkeit · PDF: https://www.baua.de/DE/Themen/Monitoring-Evaluation/Zahlen-Daten-Fakten/pdf/Kosten-2024.pdf","k5s9e3n5nu3":"2.3","k5xquv8hq3l":"Kreis, Bödeker: iga.Report 3, 2003, pp. 29-30","k5zger55ctd":"Jones, D.; Molitor, D.; Reif, J.: What Do Workplace Wellness Programs Do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study. Quarterly Journal of Economics 2019;134(4):1747-1791.","k5zry735p05":"BMF paras. 35 and 37","k60g2m6tkdq":"Link to this section: 11.4 What is expressly not covered","k65vpw92kcd":"Epigenetic coaching","k67myp0whgo":"For the payroll account","k68wi43f2w4":"F 41-43 Construction","k69qqi752zn":"Art. 9 GDPR, Section 203 StGB, co-determination and minimum group size, with a data protection check.","k6e0n3x9otd":"As at September 2026. Next review: March 2027 (WIdO Fehlzeiten-Bilanz).","k73su5gaob8":"87. Two honest corrections nobody else makes","k7uqu2zu3gs":"BAuA, 2025","k85iao8rl89":"On site, during working hours, with no sign-up hurdle, not as a voluntary evening session","k8cxwfzuh3o":"Genetic Sciences submenu","k8rskdrwvwb":"Talk to us","k980284m0y2":"There is also German academic criticism that is rarely cited:","k9948qbh9kw":"Reach (share of invited employees), participation rate, slot utilisation, waiting time, satisfaction, recommendation, language coverage, share of shift workers among participants","k9tmx67sl0a":"9.1 A misattribution that circulates in Germany and that we correct#","ka5eozuzzn3":"The most recent evidence synthesis of the German prevention landscape is iga.Report 40 (2019), published by BKK Dachverband, DGUV, AOK-Bundesverband and vdek. It has not been superseded to this day.","ka8avcds9cv":"76. The German figures that really count","kabtytlg397":"Zentrale Prüfstelle Prävention, Prüfprozess. https://www.zentrale-pruefstelle-praevention.de/","kad6mpz6qch":"Source","kadekk6d0ks":"€85.6bn","kaiywayie5l":"Genetic Sciences","kalcdx8em5p":"Link to this section: What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows","kalp42lnsjs":"Initiative Gesundheit und Arbeit (iga), Barthelmes, I.; Bödeker, W.; Sörensen, J. et al.: iga.Report 40. Wirksamkeit und Nutzen arbeitsweltbezogener Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention. Zusammenstellung der wissenschaftlichen Evidenz 2012 bis 2018, 1st edition November 2019. https://www.iga-info.de/fileadmin/redakteur/Veroeffentlichungen/iga_Reporte/Dokumente/iga-Report_40_Wirksamkeit_und_Nutzen_Gesundheitsfoerderung_Praevention.pdf","karvhwqm6qd":"More dossiers","kb2g5vvitjb":"'ROI 1:2.5 to 1:4.8.' This range appears on dozens of German-language provider websites. We do not use it. Here is where it comes from.","kbe1berm968":"Your own days of absence per employee per year (optional)","kbeyibo8g7u":"'€2.70 per euro invested'","kbf4hnxj7xf":"Link to this section: Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper","kbws1sjpowf":"Share of musculoskeletal / respiratory / mental conditions in days of incapacity","kc2n7zvtdjp":"Link to this section: Absence cost calculator","kczc8jzrpb7":"3","kde6x5n2m5u":"Meaning","kdps33hei9g":"The business case for corporate health management","kdrja610uiq":"Your 20.8 days of absence sit alongside the BAuA industry value for the whole economy of 20.8 and the national value of 20.8 (calendar days, data year 2024). We do not calculate what moving closer to a best value would 'save'.","ke9e6q3rbgg":"Sickness absence rates from different statutory health insurance funds set side by side or averaged","kearemwd8me":"Screening not linked to interventions from the workplace health promotion fields of action","kemhgni9yrs":"1","kewr77yvsik":"Assessment","kf1ytbcw8yz":"43. Why US figures do not apply in Germany, and iga says so itself","kfc31f9ja4d":"The report's own caveats:","kfll01fmmxb":"1.0","kg04jn9nxsa":"Drittes Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz of 22 November 2019, BGBl. I 2019 p. 1746 (increase from €500 to €600 as of 1 January 2020).","kgct3rp3ebv":"Sections 5 and 6 ArbSchG (risk assessment, including Section 5(3) no. 6 mental stress): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbschg/__5.html","kh0l8ee3bqh":"13Figures we deliberately do not use#","kh3eli3ase2":"Contact","kh3ptnnbueg":"Link to this section: 4.2 Germany","kh3r8rlif23":"The instruments are not validated for the work being priced. They were validated on simple service tasks and are applied to knowledge work.","kh42f23d590":"Countries","khe4sqykrk8":"15Sources#","khs9m8vck49":"100 to 1,000","ki9j8fe2gzu":"Sickness absence rate 2024","kicl3ofdxk0":"23.9 calendar days","kimyd3rdqlw":"WhatsApp","kj5hqx0025b":"Clients","kj7l8xbhfqh":"Health promotion, mental health and stress management for your employees through corporate health management. We combine innovative pharmacogenetics with practical health solutions.","kjfpidr2fwf":"A 01-03 Agriculture, forestry and fishing","kjgndkyalba":"IW Köln, 2026","kjiojqknmcu":"6.1 BAuA, Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit, data year 2024#","kjnukhy8uey":"after 2000","kk0k7003qc7":"Average gross value added per working year","kk2vcvmna75":"The trail leads via iga.Report 13 (2008) and iga.Report 3 (2003) to Aldana (2001), a US literature review covering three studies in US dollars.","kk58y3ktga2":"And every later citation leaves out Kreis and Bödeker's own caveat:","kkaqtcnwu31":"Low participation rates in almost all evaluated programmes","kkfkyh1pn6d":"FRIAA (\"Frühe Intervention am Arbeitsplatz\", early intervention at the workplace), multicentre randomised controlled trial at five German centres, n = 550, recruitment 09/2021 to 01/2023. A psychotherapeutic consultation hour at the workplace.","kkifhhklcwt":"Katherine Baicker's role is remarkable: she is the first author of the 2010 meta-analysis from which the '2.7' and the '25%' come, and a co-author of the 2019 randomised study that could not reproduce those effects. The correction comes from the author of the original finding.","kkn80ty1o49":"Five points that are regularly misrepresented in the German market:","kkpcp65pch":"Link to this section: Overview","kksz2b1dw7h":"Private Medical Office (for individuals)","kkxjea6sekt":"Link to this section: 11.1 What the tool answers","kl2450fpyet":"Refers in its own footnote to the same Aldana review from 2001.","klcvd99u7es":"Pillar 4: meeting statutory obligations and a robust data architecture#","klkrp5o0wyc":"You will come across these figures in proposals. Here is why we do not use them.","klpk5vjovr5":"Samstagernstrasse 55","km51wlvsk2u":"Link to this section: Pillar 1: access and take-up","km93ymzuzo5":"18Disclaimer","kmdudc8yznx":"Joint press release of BKK Dachverband, DGUV, AOK-Bundesverband and vdek of 31 March 2015 on iga.Report 28. https://www.vdek.com/presse/pressemitteilungen/2015/iga_report_28.html","kmfe0csajlf":"info@health-prime.ch","kmk6jpiurug":"Corporate health management in figures: Switzerland 2026","kmkd7bm6s4o":"Workshops and seminars","kmw5wzui3k8":"Planned budget per employee per year","kmyv015v9dc":"Days of incapacity for work per employee","kn0glxdjdcv":"Link to this section: Pillar 2: concentration rather than volume","kn1q1w9cvt2":"27","kn395cig6cn":"Sickness absence rate, days of incapacity per employee, turnover, eNPS, risk assessment results over time","kncoawtei7x":"'25% less absence'","knnspj3fyq5":"Reference","ko0aoj2j5za":"7.1 The eAU effect: more transparency, not more illness#","kokce5pld6q":"Data security","kosy0c6iync":"1.2 And another press release that still has an effect today#","kow7sqvye5g":"Facts & Figures","kp2jsof3d7c":"Cardiovascular screening","kpdonq3an4":"1312. How we measure with you, and what we will not claim","kpg28ewkahe":"€94,100","kpo15mak7e4":"These two figures answer two different questions. Production loss answers: what did we pay for work we did not receive? That is the figure for your finance team. Loss of gross value added answers: what value did the economy fail to produce? That figure is larger, and it is the wrong one for a company-level savings calculation.","kpq4rn67aia":"4What the best studies found#","kpubhjwdkqj":"WIdO: Fehlzeiten-Bilanz 2025, press release of 16 March 2026, with the model calculation on the eAU effect. https://www.wido.de/news-presse/pressemitteilungen/2026/fehlzeiten-bilanz-2025-leichter-rueckgang-der-krankheitstage-weiterhin-hohe-ausfallzeiten-wegen-langzeiterkrankungen/","kq2gbww2nkq":"Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss, Gesundheitsuntersuchungs-Richtlinie. https://www.g-ba.de/richtlinien/10/","kq7ce1gz2jb":"19.8% / 15.1% / 12.5%","kq8d3sbk41o":"Link to this section: 7.2 The six-week limit: why your direct costs are capped","kqyhitinzt4":"2.6","kqyz70bwgoq":"Executive Medical Office","kr0gzy2hkbw":"WIdO, Fehlzeiten-Report 2025, data year 2024","kr5cyt7qe9h":"Corporate health management in figures: Germany 2026","kr5la5pz3mr":"Advising managers on work design and health-oriented leadership","krdz07kz87r":"Link to this section: 6.2 What employers actually pay out","krulq4c6hc7":"Finding from the evidence","krx6tqbvyvv":"Table 1 of the fact sheet contains a misprint (\"20.08 days of incapacity for work\"). 881.5 ÷ 42.283 = 20.85. The correct value is 20.8, and it appears in the running text of the document.","ks6mgo44afg":"Wissenschaftliches Institut der AOK (WIdO): Fehlzeiten-Report 2025, data chapter Krankheitsbedingte Fehlzeiten in der deutschen Wirtschaft im Jahr 2024, Springer 2025, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-71885-8_24. https://www.wido.de/fileadmin/Dateien/Dokumente/Publikationen_Produkte/Buchreihen/Fehlzeitenreport/wido_fzr2025_ki_und_gesundheit_krankheitsbed_fehlzeiten.pdf","ks6xzlo0lu6":"4.0","ksnnzuol9pc":"Institut DGB-Index Gute Arbeit, Kompakt 01/2025, 2024 survey wave, n = 6,985: 63% worked although they felt \"really ill\", 44% for a week or longer.","kss4kczlo9h":"A US meta-analysis, given a euro sign in a German press release from 2015.","kssti1cmalm":"Sickness absence rates compared across eight sources, plus costs, mental health, presenteeism and prevalence, with the basis given for every figure.","kssutum3jvy":"Menu","kszbx5uckcb":"over 1,000","kt18c835ell":"Leave blank for the BAuA industry value (20.8 calendar days, data year 2024).","kt627t5jiqi":"Switzerland","kt8l1pvf92y":"0.3","ktar9txe31l":"The methodologically strongest investigation is the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study (Jones, Molitor and Reif, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019), a randomised controlled trial with around 12,000 employees of the University of Illinois. After one year it found no significant effects on healthcare spending, absence or work performance, and rules out a large part of the effect estimates published up to then.","ktqdomog565":"Corporate health management in figures: Germany 2026","ktudzvkdirp":"'€400 to €500 per sick day'","ktx8sa9l6w8":"Legal","kufndhfnte8":"Mulfinger, N.; Jarczok, M. N.; Müller, A. et al. (SEEGEN): PLOS ONE 2025;20(8):e0330490, DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0330490.","kuy73jppisx":"Section 8(2) sentence 11 and Section 8(4) EStG: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__8.html","kv1zi36lgoy":"No primary source, no methodology, no study. Only provider and broker blogs.","kv6e2aavawz":"Health Prime AG","kvtvxntvcwr":"Days of incapacity per AOK member 2024","kvzgp6d7p52":"Sockoll, Kramer, Bödeker: iga.Report 13, 1st edition, April 2008, chapter 6, p. 57","kw30f76dmc":"1The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it#","kw49da8j8eg":"N","kwajdvlhyiv":"iga: iga.Report 28. Wirksamkeit und Nutzen betrieblicher Prävention, 1st edition February 2015. https://www.iga-info.de/fileadmin/redakteur/Veroeffentlichungen/iga_Reporte/Dokumente/iga-Report_28_Wirksamkeit_Nutzen_betrieblicher_Praevention.pdf","kwatpwbilt8":"randomised controlled","kwbj3owirxb":"'3% of GDP' for the BAuA production loss","kwlefkglcqj":"BAuA, Fassbender, L.; Perleberg, M.; Meyer, S.-C.: Präsentismus und Absentismus. Verbreitung und Zusammenhänge mit ausgewählten Arbeitsbedingungen. baua: Bericht kompakt, 2025, data source BAuA working time survey 2023, n = 11,199. https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Bericht-kompakt/Praesentismus","kwtcy1gihs1":"The three key figures at the top of the page:","kx3guuvxd9s":"2.4 million","kx3sonvjgzs":"The Central Prevention Testing Body (ZPP) examines only behavioural individual prevention, and states that services under Section 20b and Section 20a 'cannot be applied for'.","kx6ca2nh2zb":"Where the market's ROI figures come from, what the best studies find and which German cost figures hold up. Includes an absence cost calculator and a budget tool for Section 3 no. 34 EStG.","kxgxfkw350l":"Link to this section: FAQs","kxnue9u2y9r":"Total days of incapacity for work","kxsj3gutdp6":"Language","ky4kzbjfvgb":"Mulfinger, N.; Waldmann, T.; Herold, R. et al. (FRIAA, health economics): Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 2026;29(1):23-35.","kyfwyujuwr8":"2","kyjg92veavd":"8832 Wollerau","kykgkvqgw5g":"8Absence cost calculator#","kymf1hv6jp6":"Data protection in corporate health management","kytboaqu1nj":"Our service is not additional medicine. It lowers the threshold for medicine that your employees are already entitled to.","kz0askgy12t":"Business case Germany","kz20sqcyp16":"Steinke/Badura cited as evidence for a presenteeism ratio","kz63oo64gyl":"Continued payment of wages during sickness paid by German employers in 2025","kzg9dv6d0qu":"98. Absence cost calculator","kzkth6txdws":"Assessment per measure","kztevo7lgpb":"4.2 Germany#","kzyvxwndtwv":"GKV-Spitzenverband und Medizinischer Dienst Bund, Kaun, L.; Brunoni, C.: Präventionsbericht 2025, reporting year 2024, as at November 2025, ISSN 2198-0004. https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/media/dokumente/krankenversicherung_1/praevention__selbsthilfe__beratung/praevention/praeventionsbericht/2025_GKV_MD_Praventionsbericht_barrierefrei.pdf","m100hfiz9o7r":"One caveat that BAuA leaves implicit and that we make explicit: the model assumes that the output of an absent person is <0>lost entirely</0>, with no cover and no catching up. The €227bn is an upper limit, not a net loss.","m10akcu14dm0":"<0>Production loss (wage costs)</0><1>€790,400</1><2>250 × 20.8 incapacity days × €152 = €790,400</2>","m10ky6xkdqbe":"<0>Our service is not additional medicine. It lowers the threshold for medicine that your employees are already entitled to.</0>","m10mcvceetsv":"<0>Production loss</0>","m10so4mhaj3n":"US ROI figures are dominated by savings on direct treatment costs. A German employer <0>structurally cannot realise that saving</0>, because it does not pay for its employees' healthcare. Every imported US ROI figure is inflated for a German audience by exactly the component that does not exist here. And the umbrella organisation of the German prevention players writes this itself, in German, in print.","m10vmrawbkgk":"In cases of up to six weeks: <0>€474,240</0> (60%). In cases of over six weeks: <1>€316,160</1> (40%).","m11gralt0kw9":"iga: <0>iga.Report 49. Gesunde, sichere Arbeit: ein Schlüssel für die Arbeitgeberattraktivität?</0>, 2026, n = 1,847. <1>https://www.iga-info.de/veroeffentlichungen/igareporte</1>","m11jikpgqyq3":"'<0>70%</0> of those with regular staff shortages [worked] in the past twelve months although they were ill, <1>compared with 41% without staff shortages</1>.'","m11o9mg549ts":"If participation is the binding constraint, then <0>the format</0> decides, not the content of any single module. Four design principles follow, which we openly label as such:","m11y1db6713l":"The methodologically strongest investigation is the <0>Illinois Workplace Wellness Study</0> (Jones, Molitor and Reif, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019), a randomised controlled trial with around 12,000 employees of the University of Illinois. After one year it found no significant effects on healthcare spending, absence or work performance, and rules out a large part of the effect estimates published up to then.","m122zqq3xfgw":"<0>And a small, honest observation:</0> in 2023 there were <1>more</1> days of incapacity for work (886.2 million) than in 2024, but production loss was <2>lower</2>, at €128bn. Costs rose because employee compensation and gross value added per working year rose, not because more people were absent.","m12fdvk2fdlr":"iga: <0>iga.Report 28. Wirksamkeit und Nutzen betrieblicher Prävention</0>, 1st edition February 2015. <1>https://www.iga-info.de/fileadmin/redakteur/Veroeffentlichungen/iga_Reporte/Dokumente/iga-Report_28_Wirksamkeit_Nutzen_betrieblicher_Praevention.pdf</1>","m12imqrldugn":"<0>Fourth, iga.Report 13 partly describes itself as a sales aid.</0> It is meant to serve 'players and decision-makers in workplace health promotion as a guide and practical aid for action', 'be it in the context of <1>consulting and acquisition</1>'. That is not an accusation but the report's own description of itself. It puts the whole citation chain in context.","m12s4rggqvum":"<0/><1>Health day, invoiced as a package with a single total</1>","m12vpg1kslgk":"<0>1.8</0><1>ROI in high-quality studies, compared with 2.7 on average</1><2>iga.Report 40, 2019</2>","m13aecn1go7x":"The usual method overestimates by design. Where compensation and catching up were measured, only around <0>25 to 30%</0> of the originally calculated costs remained (Jacob-Tacken et al. 2005; Brouwer et al. 2002).","m14gnjwlnbmx":"<0>Private Medical Office (for individuals)</0>","m14ijmg547x3":"<0>Plausibly not wages (BMF para. 37), not counted towards the €600</0><1> In the predominant interest of the employer's own business, not wages; not counted towards the €600.</1>","m14rj8nbkojf":"<0><1>7</1>6. The German figures that really count</0>","m14ve15oqt6p":"<0><1>13</1>12. How we measure with you, and what we will not claim</0>","m15gnilvq5aa":"<0>Benchmarks against which we can set your result, all with a source:</0> BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey (58% uptake among those informed), Präventionsbericht 2025 (mean duration of workplace health promotion activities 24 months, 42% with a steering committee), #whatsnext 2025 (26.8% with holistic corporate health management).","m15sej786j64":"<0>Executive Medical Office (for companies)</0>","m15yooha2utc":"The trail first leads to <0>iga.Report 13 from 2008</0>, which states, verbatim:","m160tyx4iyqh":"<0>BAuA's own caveats, which we print rather than hide:</0>","m161d7kkz8uw":"Overview<0>#</0>","m164d0419ln5":"<0>9</0>","m16gpqnx5yj5":"<0><1>15</1>14. FAQs</0>","m16jbb5dsxzp":"<0>Print or save as PDF</0>","m16so45wunrl":"<0>There is no German randomised study on the economic benefit of an entire corporate health management programme.</0> There are, however, two well-resourced German randomised studies on mental health at work, and both are negative.","m16syxbsp012":"11.1 What the tool answers<0>#</0>","m1718zdbr2qf":"Source value<0>BAuA 2024, table 4</0>","m176t6126dz4":"Unlike in Switzerland, Germany has a <0>statutory starting point</0>: a risk assessment that includes mental stress is mandatory under <1>Section 5(1) and Section 5(3) no. 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG)</1>. Only <2>52.0%</2> of the organisations surveyed carry one out, and 24.6% carry out none at all (#whatsnext 2025, n = 1,441). And <3>Section 21(1a) ArbSchG</3> requires, from calendar year 2026, that \"at least 5% of the establishments present in the Land are to be inspected\", from which Land law may not deviate.","m17flu0j19vl":"To put the Booz study in context: by its own account it was 'carried out by the international strategy consultancy <0>Booz & Company as a pro bono project for the Felix Burda Stiftung</0>'. The disclosed methodology consists entirely of a '<1>qualitative survey</1> ... of more than twenty German companies'. No peer review, no methods section, no data appendix. The study itself concedes: 'Research into the return on investment of preventive measures <2>is still in its infancy</2>.'","m17fz3yk31p8":"<0>Bowel cancer screening</0>","m17gq0ohcexy":"Its own <0>footnote 6</0> reads, verbatim:","m17h0la3rblw":"<0>Health insurance fund data and research</0>","m17hjs05wgzh":"<0><1>12</1>11. Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper</0>","m1881r46q99m":"<0><1>2</1>1. The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it</0>","m18ged24pcfi":"<0>The formal health economic evaluation: additional annual costs of €3,484.29 (95% CI 1,033.91 to 5,934.67; p = 0.005), a QALY gain of 0.021 (p = 0.203, not significant), hence an ICUR of around €165,919 per QALY. The authors' conclusion: not cost-effective.</0> Mulfinger et al., <1>Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics</1> 2026;29(1):23-35.","m18m7y7ywmjh":"<0>10</0>The business case we actually stand behind<1>#</1>","m191ck5907es":"<0>11</0>","m199nl743fb":"'Across all studies, the <0>mean ROI is 2.7</0>. ... The minimum ROI of <1>minus 3.3</1> is set against a maximum of <2>15.6</2>. <3>85%</3> of the ROIs are greater than one.'","m19gq2muz1a1":"<0/>Disputed<1> because correlational and self-reported</1>","m19hti007s32":"<0>Nothing in the German market cites FRIAA.</0> We do, because a finance department that does its own research will come across it anyway, and because a design principle follows from the finding.","m19s8q4nbojw":"6.2 What employers actually pay out<0>#</0>","m1apazi5q09b":"These two figures answer two different questions. <0>Production loss</0> answers: what did we pay for work we did not receive? That is the figure for your finance team. <1>Loss of gross value added</1> answers: what value did the economy fail to produce? That figure is larger, and it is the wrong one for a company-level savings calculation.","m1au4mnx72vt":"<0>It is an allowance, not an exemption limit.</0> If it is exceeded, only the amount above it is subject to tax and contributions. Tax-free also means exempt from social insurance contributions.","m1bdihs0gfhh":"The calculator offers two routes. The <0>federal benchmark (BAuA)</0> calculates top-down using the published daily rates by industry and shows production loss and loss of gross value added side by side. The <1>own-pay route</1> works bottom-up from a gross annual salary. Both routes are technically defensible and answer slightly different questions. Values from official sources and your own assumptions are labelled separately in the tool.","m1bub6h5ezq4":"The last point has an additional regulatory twist in Germany: the <0>GKV Prevention Guide (Leitfaden Prävention)</0> excludes 'screenings without interventions from the workplace health promotion fields of action' from funding, and the <1>BMF letter of 20 April 2021</1> excludes them from the tax exemption in para. 34. <2>Linking screening to an intervention makes the measure eligible for funding and tax-free, and it is also what the international evidence suggests.</2> For once, regulation and evidence point in the same direction.","m1byvpp2xokl":"<0>The same literature review from 2001.</0> The German market has two apparently independent ROI traditions, and both go back to a single US review.","m1c09p4467d7":"<0>Summary</0>","m1cmstfk1tsp":"<0>Legal notice</0>","m1ctqemcewl0":"<0>Cardiovascular screening</0>","m1cv7gnfaev8":"<0/>Not evidenced","m1cxb3pkniwx":"<0>Statutory health and accident insurance</0>","m1d6cgdocia1":"<0>Switzerland</0>","m1d7hygejiy3":"<0>Clients</0>","m1d9g7skj6ob":"<0>12</0>11. Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper","m1dbacwsmt50":"<0>6</0>The German figures that really count<1>#</1>","m1doohxwxbe0":"Sections 5 and 6 ArbSchG (risk assessment, including Section 5(3) no. 6 mental stress): <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbschg/__5.html</0>","m1doywl4jw4x":"Mulfinger, N.; Waldmann, T.; Herold, R. et al. (FRIAA, health economics): <0>Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics</0> 2026;29(1):23-35.","m1dzokj7ochb":"Section 42e EStG (binding ruling): <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__42e.html</0>","m1eqjf29d9qd":"<0/>Disputed","m1exjztmyco5":"<0>Introducing a health programme</0>","m1ez84cg483j":"<0>There is no ratio in it.</0> No 2:1, no 3:1, no 'two thirds'. And the statement refers to 'the studies presented', which are overwhelmingly American. Anyone who cites Steinke and Badura for a numerical presenteeism multiplier is citing them wrongly.","m1f7h51avoom":"<0>Third, the range the market quotes does not exist.</0> The source says '1:2.5 <1>and</1> 1:4.85 respectively'. These are two individual results from two studies, not a range. In the retelling, 'respectively' became 'to'. Anyone who quotes '1:2.5 to 1:4.8' today is quoting a garbled summary of a summary of three US studies.","m1fj6cley4a7":"<0>3.3% of cases, 39.9% of days of incapacity</0>","m1foozooqs0n":"<0>Three points of precision that separate a serious presentation from a careless one:</0>","m1fsrmezmx1i":"<0>9</0>8. Absence cost calculator","m1g4o6pkjyxw":"<0>Read the table from the bottom up:</0> the better a study is designed, the smaller the benefit it finds. That is the classic pattern of an effect that arises mainly from study design.","m1g9zfujc9qf":"Zentrale Prüfstelle Prävention, Prüfprozess. <0>https://www.zentrale-pruefstelle-praevention.de/</0>","m1gnf3kualw8":"<0>Our editorial rule for this page: if we print 2.7, we print 1.8 in the same sentence.</0> There is no honest way to use the mean without the quality stratification, and iga.Report 40 prints both on the same page.","m1h17ri7idbm":"<0/><1>Prevention course under Section 20(4) no. 1 SGB V, certified (exercise, nutrition, stress, addiction)</1>","m1hob70xnhpy":"<0>−3.3</0>","m1hpgdzlxrti":"'The following are tax-free: … benefits that the employer provides <0>in addition to the wages already owed</0>, to prevent and reduce health risks and to promote health in the workplace, and that meet the requirements of <2>Sections 20 and 20b of Book V of the Social Code (SGB V)</2> in terms of <1>quality, earmarking, targeting and certification</1>, provided they do not exceed <3>€600 per calendar year</3>'","m1hsfc5fjula":"'The studies presented show that the costs of illness-related restrictions on work productivity are <0>considerable</0> and <1>exceed the costs of absenteeism</1>.'","m1hvhyg5vbte":"6.3 Where the days of absence are concentrated<0>#</0>","m1i3brpemd4w":"<0>Second, iga.Report 3 is itself quoting.</0> It says:","m1i3hxztkhrx":"<0>8</0>7. Two honest corrections nobody else makes","m1i5rcjwvnq3":"<0>4</0>3. Why US figures do not apply in Germany, and iga says so itself","m1i5yc86cqsc":"'<0>The sources for the calculation are mainly of US origin and mostly relate to individual case analyses.</0> According to <1>Aldana (2001)</1>, the range of return on investment (ROI) is between <2>5.3 and 16 USD</2> per dollar invested.'","m1imqik51mc9":"<0>Full attribution.</0> These are direct results of delivery.","m1in2dglzpir":"<0>Genetic Sciences overview</0>","m1jklqqw53yr":"<0/><1>Fitness studio or sports club membership fees</1>","m1jvohld0rr9":"<0>12</0>How we measure with you, and what we will not claim<1>#</1>","m1k5v5bro899":"Institut DGB-Index Gute Arbeit: <0>Kompakt 01/2025</0>, survey wave 2024, n = 6,985.","m1k6u9161ymk":"'The estimate of production losses ... indicates, in macroeconomic terms, a <0>prevention potential and possible benefit potential</0>.'","m1knoudcd3tx":"<0>One comparison ban we take seriously:</0> AOK/WIdO, BKK, DAK and TK report 23.3 / 22.3 / 19.5 / 18.5 days of incapacity for overlapping periods. These figures are <1>not comparable</1>. TK standardises by age and sex and counts the economically active population including recipients of unemployment benefit; AOK and BKK report unstandardised figures for a population with more manual trades; DAK counts calendar days. We do not place them side by side and we do not average them.","m1krruzreee1":"<0>13</0>Figures we deliberately do not use<1>#</1>","m1kzw9fnuaed":"Under <0>Section 3(1) EntgFG</0> you continue to pay wages for up to six weeks per case of illness; after that the statutory health insurance fund pays sickness benefit. Your direct wage cost is therefore capped. A calculation that multiplies all days of absence by one daily rate overstates it. The share-based average is an approximation, not a detailed calculation under the EntgFG and SGB V.","m1l2jdanut9c":"Throughout this literature, <0>no measured productivity</0> is used, only self-reporting.","m1lfn8r1nuy6":"Hollederer, A.: <0>Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung in Deutschland: Verbreitung, Inanspruchnahme und soziale Disparitäten in der BIBB-/BAuA-Erwerbstätigenbefragung 2018</0>. Das Gesundheitswesen 2022;84(08-09):753, n = 20,012, DOI 10.1055/s-0042-1753687.","m1lxnszjth91":"Alongside the iga line, a second figure circulates in Germany: 'Every euro invested in workplace prevention pays back five to 16 euros.' It comes from <0>Booz & Company / Felix Burda Stiftung, 'Vorteil Vorsorge', 2011</0>.","m1lyogwn2spq":"Cross-references: <0>Introducing a health programme in Germany</0> (<1>/de-de/bgm-einfuehren</1>), <2>Data protection, confidentiality and co-determination in corporate health management</2> (<3>/de-de/datenschutz-bgm</3>) and the key figures with full source references (<4>/de-de/bgm-zahlen-deutschland</4>).","m1m03g2vxgpw":"'Overall, about <0>140 studies with about 500,000 participants</0> are reported. While the majority of studies were again conducted in the USA ... <1>Apparently only one study could be found from Germany, namely on screening for colon cancer.</1>'","m1m0lyu1dtmp":"11.2 The legal position in brief<0>#</0>","m1mbzetyg50g":"<0>The three key figures at the top of the page:</0>","m1myyyx0nkkk":"<0>Salary sacrifice is excluded.</0> Additionality is legally defined in <1>Section 8(4) EStG</1>: no offsetting, no reduction, no replacement of an already agreed increase, no increase if it lapses.","m1n4kil1boas":"Across all reviews evaluated in the report: <0>978 individual studies, of which 257 are from Europe (26%), of which 18 are from Germany</0>, that is, 7% of the European studies and <1>2% of all</1> studies.","m1nle6jq1l77":"<0/><1>Occupational reintegration management measures</1>","m1no8g0s5c71":"Sources: <0>BAuA, Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit 2024</0>; <1>Destatis, Krankenstand 2025</1>; Destatis Verdiensterhebung 2025; WIdO, Fehlzeiten-Report 2025. The BAuA figures underestimate short-term cases, because incapacity for work is usually certified only from the third day.","m1nt19suvnxx":"'<0>Expenses for health check-ups and preventive examinations, up to a maximum of the amount that the statutory health insurance funds would reimburse for these services.</0>'","m1nvmqtbrshc":"'Because the studies lasted <0>3.25 years on average</0>, it remains unclear how long these gains last and whether they grow or shrink over time.'","m1nwu6dmgfxr":"GKV-Spitzenverband und Medizinischer Dienst Bund, Kaun, L.; Brunoni, C.: <0>Präventionsbericht 2025</0>, reporting year 2024, as at November 2025, ISSN 2198-0004. <1>https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/media/dokumente/krankenversicherung_1/praevention__selbsthilfe__beratung/praevention/praeventionsbericht/2025_GKV_MD_Praventionsbericht_barrierefrei.pdf</1>","m1oaji6gkxjg":"<0>Nutrition coaching</0>","m1ogp1adi5hy":"<0>How many German organisations actually have systematic corporate health management?</0><1/>26.8% say they have holistic corporate health management; 32.0% implement workplace health promotion measures and are building up corporate health management; 30.6% have individual measures; 8.8% have nothing at all. The study notes: \"there has been no increase since 2022\" (#whatsnext 2025, n = 1,514).","m1ojea7va6d6":"<0>The process is the real condition.</0> BMF para. 20 requires that the services be provided 'within a <1>structured in-house process</1> (for example steered by an <2>internal company committee</2>) with <3>analysis of needs</3> ... and with <4>the involvement of employees or their representatives</4> as well as ... the specialists responsible for safety and health'. <5>The tax office itself therefore requires a steering group, a needs analysis and involvement of the works council.</5> Anyone who bypasses the works council risks not only a co-determination dispute but the tax exemption.","m1okd9qnvaww":"Sections 20 and 20b SGB V: <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_5/__20.html</0> · <1>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_5/__20b.html</1>","m1p2cgpi6ovw":"<0>Melanoma screening</0>","m1p81gnvwpuc":"<0>Section 3 no. 34 of the Income Tax Act (EStG)</0>, verbatim:","m1pdljxitv7z":"<0><1>10</1>9. What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows</0>","m1ph8605na5m":"<0>14</0>13. Figures we deliberately do not use","m1phkl0zw4va":"<0><1>1</1>Overview</0>","m1pv52tkanj3":"<0>On top of that, there is very little German evidence at all.</0> iga.Report 40, chapter 11.1:","m1pzuwms25re":"<0>There is no valid before-and-after comparison across the turn of the year 2021/2022</0> (eAU structural break, see section 7.1). For us, the sickness absence rate is a context measure over 24 months, not a target measure.","m1q9cwm82tgb":"9.1 A misattribution that circulates in Germany and that we correct<0>#</0>","m1qg7fl9vrez":"<0>Average case duration of mental illness</0>","m1qjlbvwc5o7":"Source value<0>BAuA 2024, table 3</0>","m1qwmsjy8v3c":"<0>DAK-Gesundheitsreport 2023</0>, routine data on 2.4 million insured people in employment plus over 7,000 people surveyed representatively by forsa, provides the most useful German presenteeism figure from a business perspective, because it is a comparison of drivers within the same study:","m1r643hoenid":"<0>Data security</0>","m1r7ypu4ifwh":"The recording and evidence requirements follow from the <0>BMF letter of 20 April 2021, paras. 27 to 29</0>. Clarify with your tax adviser which documents you keep for each measure. Regardless of this, keep separate invoice items for measure, meals, travel and accommodation (para. 30), and a documented in-house process with needs analysis and involvement of employee representatives (para. 20).","m1s0vwfzmoco":"'Three of the studies also determined the cost-benefit ratios (cost-benefit ratio; return of investment); these are <0>1:2.5 and 1:4.85 respectively in quasi-experimental studies</0> and <1>1:10.1 in a correlational study</1>.'","m1sbi9bhdmcs":"<0/>Well evidenced","m1sc9oil1k3d":"<0><1>17</1>16. Further reading</0>","m1t0txkn1tin":"<0>Two warnings on level 3, which we record in writing before the programme starts:</0>","m1t3a4yshxcq":"<0>Song and Baicker</0> (JAMA, 2019, n = 32,974, 33 sites of a US retailer) found improvements in self-reported health behaviour after 18 months, but <1>no differences</1> in clinical measurements, healthcare spending or employment data.","m1tjpez15yi0":"<0>Auer, Sennefelder and Meier (2022)</0>: behaviour-oriented workplace health promotion has 'hardly any positive effects on work productivity and communication structures'.","m1trdpgmlc58":"Gloede, D.; Ducki, A.: <0>Die Effizienz betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung</0>. Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung 2011;6:131-137, DOI 10.1007/s11553-010-0275-9.","m1trfb235r1k":"<0>€85.6bn</0>","m1twvrulwaqr":"Much of what a company health day provides is <0>already a statutory entitlement</0> that goes unused. Under the Health Examination Guideline (Gesundheitsuntersuchungs-Richtlinie) of the Federal Joint Committee, people with statutory health insurance aged 18 to 34 are entitled to a <1>one-off</1> health examination between the ages of 18 and 34, and to one every <2>three years from the age of 35</2>, which also includes urine, blood sugar and cholesterol tests.","m1u56i12xt47":"BAuA relates these values to <0>gross national income</0>, not gross domestic product. '3% of GDP' is wrong.","m1u7m6vjwblb":"Maar, C.; Fricker, R.; Hildebrandt, N.; Drechsler, M.: <0>Vorteil Vorsorge</0>. Booz & Company / Felix Burda Stiftung, 2011. <1>https://www.felix-burda-stiftung.de/sites/default/files/documents/Studie_FBS_Booz_Vorteil_Vorsorge_2011.pdf</1>","m1ugfbp2oaoi":"<0>Germany</0>","m1ugii33z6ty":"<0>Our position: presenteeism is the right question and the wrong number.</0> We use it as an argument for how work is designed and for low-threshold access to medical assessment, not as an item in a cost-effectiveness calculation.","m1ugyxfy6ciq":"<0>9</0>What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows<1>#</1>","m1uv4d3ovl70":"Mental illness runs at <0>28.5 days of incapacity per case</0> against an average of 10.5 days and has risen by <1>47%</1> since 2014. <2>Long-term cases of over six weeks</2> account for 3.3% of cases and 40% of days of absence. That is an argument for targeted outreach and early assessment pathways, not for blanket sports programmes.","m1vlpdcdn3rt":"<0/><1>Screening not linked to interventions from the workplace health promotion fields of action</1>","m1vo5zirz7wb":"For corporate fitness the route is different: the <0>€50 benefit-in-kind threshold under Section 8(2) sentence 11 EStG</0>. This is a <1>threshold</1>, not an allowance: one cent over and the entire amount is taxable.","m1vsnxl1kr0s":"<0>Doesn't the statutory health insurance fund pay for this anyway?</0><1/>In part, and with conditions. In 2024 the funds reached around 28,142 establishments and 2.06 million employees, which is roughly 5 to 6% of employees. At the same time, 53% of employees say their employer provides some form of programme. <2>The vast majority of workplace health promotion in Germany is funded by employers.</2> Details are on our page Introducing a health programme.","m1w0akw7ogkf":"Days of absence: <0/> Daily rates: <1/>","m1wfb7yleu4j":"Pillar 2: concentration instead of volume<0>#</0>","m1x0s6e6zgu7":"<0>11</0>10. The business case we actually stand behind","m1x4yf8cfpzt":"<0>8</0>Absence cost calculator<1>#</1>","m1xay9d53y6g":"<0>15</0>Sources<1>#</1>","m1xf5u1nkch5":"<0>Tax-free volume under Section 3 no. 34 EStG</0><1>€150,000</1><2>250 × min(€600; €600) = €150,000</2>","m1xtadap1hcg":"<0>Eye screening</0>","m1y80uis0mt5":"<0>In many projects, this uncapped category is worth more than the €600.</0> It covers exactly the analysis, advice, leadership and evaluation work of a serious programme.","m1ybxcdf4vc3":"<0>Institut DGB-Index Gute Arbeit, Kompakt 01/2025</0>, 2024 survey wave, n = 6,985: <1>63%</1> worked although they felt \"really ill\", <2>44%</2> for a week or longer.","m1yd6xrkne7y":"<0>Why do you set out the weaknesses of your own market so plainly?</0><1/>Because a finance department that does its own research will find them anyway. It is better to put the counter-evidence on the table yourself than to have it put to you in the second meeting. All the incriminating sources cited here are German, free of charge and published by the statutory health and accident insurers themselves.","m1yojzk5relh":"<0>Practical consequence:</0> do not draw a before-and-after line across the turn of the year 2021/2022. And if someone offers you a 'record sickness absence rate since 2022' as a sales argument, discount it by at least that amount.","m1z1bnug5arz":"The German '2.7' is the figure from a British-Australian review of predominantly US studies, with a corrected misprint. The maximum of 15.6 comes from <0>a single US school district with around 6,000 employees</0> (Aldana et al., 2005).","m1z4yqvjr62m":"<0>Epigenetic coaching</0>","m1zn18ca2o4m":"<0>Not counted towards the €600, plausible under BMF para. 37:</0> analysis services: incapacity, work situation, age structure analysis, survey, needs workshop.","m204ztscl97p":"'By comparison, <0>controlled and randomised studies</0> show a <1>lower economic benefit, or none at all</1>, than methodologically less robust studies.' (chap. 12)","m208wi2bteob":"The multipliers come from a few US studies with interested funders. US studies focus on costs because <0>employers there pay for healthcare</0>.","m20ga3v9kyzk":"<0>What we expressly do not claim:</0> on this page we make no claim that screening reduces mortality or disease burden. The international evidence on general preventive check-ups is not sufficient for that, and expert bodies assess individual examination modules differently. What can be evidenced is uptake. The medical direction decides which modules we offer and why, based on German guideline sources.","m20vblukvr68":"Song, Z.; Baicker, K.: <0>Effect of a Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health and Economic Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial</0>. JAMA 2019;321(15):1491-1501, n = 32,974.","m2139o0d2x8k":"Joint press release of BKK Dachverband, DGUV, AOK-Bundesverband and vdek of 31 March 2015 on iga.Report 28. <0>https://www.vdek.com/presse/pressemitteilungen/2015/iga_report_28.html</0>","m21675a6rn7e":"<0>This page puts the counter-evidence on the table first and then builds the narrower case, one that will survive your finance team's scrutiny.</0> We will not quote you a return on investment. We will show you where the market's figures come from, what the methodologically best studies found, and which German figures are robust enough to base a decision on.","m21k72mwzlxb":"<0>The business case for corporate health management</0>","m220tu0xbxx":"<0/><1>B: Own pay</1>","m22a6ugd4wmw":"<0>Presenteeism 54%</0> (worked at least one day while ill)","m22jsevzkx55":"<0>1. Process</0>","m22lugsyj4ez":"The ROI range of '1:2.5 to 1:4.8' that is common in the market <0>does not exist as a range anywhere</0>. The source gives '1:2.5 and 1:4.85 <1>respectively</1>', two separate study results.","m22occgtyre1":"<0>Practical consequence: demand separate invoice items from every provider.</0> An externally run health day invoiced as a package is a payroll tax risk for you, not for the provider.","m22oh8djkrna":"Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, Pimpertz, J.: <0>Entgeltfortzahlung bei Krankheit kostet 85,6 Milliarden Euro</0>, IW-Kurzbericht Nr. 57 of 29 August 2026. <1>https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/jochen-pimpertz-entgeltfortzahlung-bei-krankheit-kostet-856-milliarden-euro.html</1>","m22qey3cdb72":"<0>If the studies find nothing, why should we do anything at all?</0><1/>Because what was measured was mostly untargeted programmes with low participation over short periods. iga.Report 40 itself names the low participation rates. From this we derive design principles (section 5) rather than promises of a return. And the four pillars in section 10 do not presuppose any cost savings.","m2340h4jc34m":"<0>Planned measures</0><1><2/><3>Prevention course under Section 20(4) no. 1 SGB V, certified (exercise, nutrition, stress, addiction)</3></1><4><5/><6>Prevention course without certification</6></4><7><8/><9>Workplace health promotion measure under Section 20b SGB V in the health insurance funds' fields of action</9></7><10><11/><12>Analysis services: incapacity, work situation, age structure analysis, survey, needs workshop</12></10><13><14/><15>Advice to managers on work design and health-conscious leadership</15></13><16><17/><18>Project management, moderation, internal communication, documentation, evaluation</18></16><19><20/><21>Occupational reintegration management measures</21></19><22><23/><24>Protective vaccinations in line with STIKO recommendations</24></22><25><26/><27>Health check-up or preventive examination</27></25><28><29/><30>Screening without a link to interventions from the workplace health promotion fields of action</30></28><31><32/><33>Fitness studio or sports club membership fees</33></31><34><35/><36>Massages, physiotherapy treatments</36></34><37><38/><39>Meals, travel, accommodation in connection with a measure</39></37><40><41/><42>Health day, invoiced as a package with a total amount</42></40>","m23d3sacyy87":"<0>The table that no German page has published so far.</0> iga.Report 40, figure 3, p. 63:","m23g5ujt2za3":"Section 21(1a) ArbSchG (minimum inspection rate of 5% from 2026): <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbschg/__21.html</0>","m23ln90hrbec":"<0>Attribution with a stated caveat.</0> The share of newly discovered findings is the most meaningful figure a screening provider can report, and almost nobody reports it.","m23vv1wtw6wv":"<0/><1>The services are provided in addition to the wages and salary already owed</1>","m241l9v6bmho":"Techniker Krankenkasse, IFBG und Haufe Personalmagazin: <0>#whatsnext 2025: Gesund arbeiten in herausfordernden Zeiten</0>, fieldwork 6 January to 14 February 2025, n = 1,529 organisations. <1>https://www.tk.de/resource/blob/2197646/74c9dbc71dac772c8cd5d7bb71d2729b/whatsnext-2025-data.pdf</1>","m2430q5eakwg":"<0>€152</0><1>Production loss per day of incapacity, 2024</1><2>BAuA, 2025</2>","m24ab0ujeqag":"<0><1>5</1>4. What the best studies found</0>","m24w3fdg1yy4":"The second German ROI tradition, 'five to 16 euros', cites <0>the same source</0> in its own footnote. Germany appears to have two independent ROI traditions; in fact it has one.","m25d825577t8":"<0>7</0>6. The German figures that really count","m25i9hewzcp9":"<0>High study quality</0>","m25mjqhfua2c":"<0><1>4</1>3. Why US figures do not apply in Germany, and iga says so itself</0>","m26ppl4r9j3w":"<0>1</0>Overview","m2744uvtb749":"This matters because <0>long-term cases of over six weeks account for around 40% of all days of incapacity</0> (WIdO, data year 2024). <1>A calculator that multiplies the total number of days of incapacity by €152 overstates your direct costs by exactly that share.</1> Our calculator works out the six-week average separately, and we know of no other German tool that does.","m277f7poimnv":"BMF para. 34 names, among other things: membership fees for sports clubs and fitness studios, physiotherapy treatments, massages, <0>'screenings (health examinations, preventive examinations) without a link to interventions from the fields of action of the health insurance funds' workplace health promotion'</0>, work equipment and structural measures, subsidies for canteen meals, and <1>ancillary or additional benefits such as meal, travel and accommodation costs</1>.","m27ffd7vz49e":"<0/><1>Vaccinations as recommended by STIKO</1>","m27me9g6xdb2":"'Internationally, however, these cost types are of differing importance to institutions. <0>Companies in Germany, for example, unlike many US companies, do not contribute to covering direct illness costs</0> and are therefore primarily interested in reducing indirect costs.'","m282w0apwmdy":"Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA): <0>Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit 2024</0>. Data year 2024, national accounts as at 21 October 2025. <1>https://www.baua.de/DE/Themen/Monitoring-Evaluation/Zahlen-Daten-Fakten/Kosten-der-Arbeitsunfaehigkeit</1> · PDF: <2>https://www.baua.de/DE/Themen/Monitoring-Evaluation/Zahlen-Daten-Fakten/pdf/Kosten-2024.pdf</2>","m28g0ta06heh":"The fourth pillar has a second half. In Germany a properly built data architecture is a <0>procurement criterion</0>, not a footnote: it has to convince not only the data protection officer but also the works council and the occupational physician. That is the subject of our page <1>Data protection, confidentiality and co-determination</1>.","m28whotourem":"<0>First, it is not a finding of iga.Report 13.</0> The report cites Kreis and Bödeker from 2003, that is, <1>iga.Report 3</1>. It is a quotation of a quotation.","m28x5l4vd9ar":"<0>Method of calculation</0><1><2/><3>A: National benchmark (BAuA daily rates)</3></1><4><5/><6>B: Own pay</6></4>","m29flbovu0ns":"<0>Copy link with inputs</0><1>Print or save as PDF</1>","m29g2ygs37hr":"<0>14</0>FAQs<1>#</1>","m29iafnyjgk6":"<0>16</0>Further reading<1>#</1>","m29oy0ngdnlw":"'... whereas the <0>five studies carried out in the EU give an indifferent picture</0>. However, an average <1>ROI of 1.7</1> is also achieved here.'","m29tpvmo5m3f":"<0>No certification is required for workplace health promotion services under Section 20b.</0> BMF letter of 20 April 2021, para. 4: 'In principle, <1>certification is not envisaged</1> for workplace health promotion services under Section 20b SGB V.' The word 'certification' in the statutory text applies only to courses under Section 20(4) no. 1 SGB V.","m29vr39i4mnu":"<0>3% of cases account for 40% of days of absence.</0>","m29xx7cutopu":"<0/><1>Meals, travel and accommodation in connection with a measure</1>","m2a4kiqc9g3x":"<0/>Well evidenced: <1>a well-documented estimate</1>","m2aart9w3yk":"<0>1</0>The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it<1>#</1>","m2au2vrjzoqo":"'Continued payment of wages to sick employees cost employers an estimated <0>€85.6 billion</0> in 2025.'<1/>Pimpertz, J.: IW-Kurzbericht No. 57, 29 August 2026. Method: gross wages from the social budget (€72.5bn) plus estimated employer social insurance contributions (€13.1bn). In nominal terms, the amount has more than doubled in fifteen years.","m2bi32pekmp":"<0>All screenings</0>","m2bpjqcsq8fa":"This calculator does not replace tax advice. What counts is the assessment of your tax adviser or a <0>binding ruling under Section 42e EStG</0> from your local tax office. The calculation runs in your browser.","m2c1wxftuwkn":"BAuA, Fassbender, L.; Perleberg, M.; Meyer, S.-C.: <0>Präsentismus und Absentismus. Verbreitung und Zusammenhänge mit ausgewählten Arbeitsbedingungen</0>. baua: Bericht kompakt, 2025, data source BAuA working time survey 2023, n = 11,199. <1>https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Bericht-kompakt/Praesentismus</1>","m2chs8dveg50":"<0>Pharmacogenetics</0>","m2ck8fr4xd9p":"<0><1>14</1>13. Figures we deliberately do not use</0>","m2cnus7ee41g":"<0>10</0>9. What presenteeism really costs, and why nobody knows","m2d3v6g1fwdw":"<0>3</0>2. The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself","m2d5fh4x27hr":"'Participation rates are reported only <0>irregularly in the studies, but are predominantly low</0>.'","m2d5mg9bwllv":"<0/><1>Show sensitivity: cost impact per day of absence</1>","m2d7m9yytsgs":"Section 8(2) sentence 11 and Section 8(4) EStG: <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__8.html</0>","m2deds7tmzcl":"<0>BAuA calls this potential, not savings.</0> We use the same word.","m2dsjwcg1j93":"<0/><1>Show indirect cost scenario</1>","m2dy8fxx8gl5":"<0>881.5 million</0>","m2e7d4d90p32":"Since 1 January 2022, doctors' practices have reported incapacity for work <0>electronically</0> to the health insurance funds. That has changed the recording, not the incidence of illness.","m2ejkdyv11l1":"<0/><1>Advising managers on work design and health-oriented leadership</1>","m2eks7fkfear":"<0>Where the 2:1 ratio really comes from:</0> the 2011 Booz study (€1,199 for absenteeism, €2,399 for presenteeism per employee per year, reference year 2009). Its authors themselves write: 'The costs caused by presenteeism have <1>so far not been quantified in a binding way</1>. ... In an <2>approximate calculation</2>, it can be put at €2,399 per head per year.' as a cost figure.","m2etnu64i676":"The most recent evidence synthesis of the German prevention landscape is <0>iga.Report 40 (2019)</0>, published by BKK Dachverband, DGUV, AOK-Bundesverband and vdek. It has not been superseded to this day.","m2ey079w6qkx":"<0>Official statistics and ministries</0>","m2f24oabbjee":"Pillar 4: meeting statutory obligations and a robust data architecture<0>#</0>","m2f74gyxeas":"<0>4</0>What the best studies found<1>#</1>","m2f9t94wwj4b":"<0>The primary endpoint was self-reported days of incapacity for work: 21 days in the intervention group against 22 days in the control group, no significant effect (p = 0.679).</0> The clinical secondary endpoints improved markedly. Rothermund et al., <1>Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics</1>, December 2025.","m2fg4bsettup":"<0><1>11</1>10. The business case we actually stand behind</0>","m2flv7356ntz":"<0>Important, and most competitor sites get it wrong:</0> workplace health promotion <1>does not replace the risk assessment</1>. The GKV Prevention Guide says so explicitly: workplace health promotion 'supplements' statutory occupational health and safety. Details on our page <2>Introducing a health programme</2>.","m2g6swcycqch":"The same report has a secondary finding you can use directly: <0>systematic, structurally embedded implementation matters more than the breadth of the programme.</0>","m2g6sxigo3ms":"<0>SEEGEN</0> (\"Seelische Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz Krankenhaus\", mental health at the hospital workplace), multicentre cluster-randomised study, three German hospital sites, 18 clusters, n = 415, five modules. <1>No statistically significant effect on the primary endpoint or on the secondary endpoints after eleven months, Cohen's d = 0.18.</1><2/>Mulfinger et al., <3>PLOS ONE</3> 2025;20(8):e0330490.","m2g7xazzpu0":"<0>Gloede and Ducki (2011)</0>: earlier cost-benefit ratios 'cannot claim validity, at least for team-based health training'.","m2gcazhqzm77":"<0>BMF para. 35:</0> '<1>Independently of the provision in Section 3 no. 34 EStG</1>, services provided by the employer for workplace health promotion are <2>not wages</2> if they are provided in the predominant interest of the employer's own business.' The test follows BFH (Federal Fiscal Court), judgment of 9 May 2019 - VI R 28/17.","m2gjynkfy3z5":"<0>Corporate health management in figures: Switzerland 2026</0>","m2glr26rj3gu":"Wissenschaftliches Institut der AOK (WIdO): <0>Fehlzeiten-Report 2025</0>, data chapter <1>Krankheitsbedingte Fehlzeiten in der deutschen Wirtschaft im Jahr 2024</1>, Springer 2025, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-71885-8_24. <2>https://www.wido.de/fileadmin/Dateien/Dokumente/Publikationen_Produkte/Buchreihen/Fehlzeitenreport/wido_fzr2025_ki_und_gesundheit_krankheitsbed_fehlzeiten.pdf</2>","m3b2pjz8h5":"<0>Section 3(1) of the Continued Remuneration Act (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz)</0> gives employees the right to continued payment of wages 'for a period of up to <1>six weeks</1>'. After that, the health insurance fund pays sickness benefit. The employer's direct wage cost per episode of illness is therefore <2>capped</2>.","m3bca2269ql":"<0>There is currently no official German cost figure for presenteeism.</0> If someone quotes you one, ask for the primary source.","m40r68fi0xf":"<0>6.0</0>","m41fo4bl7p5":"On 31 March 2015, BKK Dachverband, DGUV, AOK-Bundesverband and vdek jointly published a press release on iga.Report 28. It said: 'Sickness-related absence falls by <0>a quarter</0> on average', 'based on around <1>2,400 studies</1>', and 'For every euro invested, <2>€2.70</2> can be saved as a result through reduced absence.'","m4gjgx1c7w9":"<0>€152</0>","m559ibj0bw3":"<0>Loss of gross value added</0><1>€1,341,600</1><2>250 × 20.8 incapacity days × €258 = €1,341,600</2>","m58nigqhdxx":"1.1 The second German ROI tradition is the same source<0>#</0>","m62m3tcyqy3":"Pillar 1: access and uptake<0>#</0>","m69fdn3u7ee":"<0>Amount above the allowance</0><1>€0</1><2>Becomes taxable wages subject to contributions, unless another route applies, for example services in the predominant interest of the employer's own business (BMF paras. 35, 37). The allowance applies only to the extent that the individual measures support it.</2>","m69r6c7gb8i":"Several German sites describe BAuA's <0>€227bn</0> as the 'cost of presenteeism'. That is wrong. The €227bn is the <1>loss of gross value added through incapacity for work</1>, that is, through absenteeism, valued at gross value added rather than at wage costs. It has nothing to do with presenteeism.","m6ci0o3rav":"BAuA, Steinke, M.; Badura, B.: <0>Präsentismus. Ein Review zum Stand der Forschung</0>. Dortmund 2011, ISBN 978-3-88261-126-7. <1>https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Berichte/Gd60.html</1>","m6eiy6wp3w7":"<0><1>18</1>Disclaimer</0>","m6frqg4nxit":"<0>Menu</0><1><2/></1>","m6px21ivd35":"<0>11</0>Section 3 no. 34 EStG: budget helper<1>#</1>","m6si0dm3dv4":"<0>€134bn</0> = €3,177 per person = <1>€152 per day of incapacity</1> = 3.0% of gross national income","m71hq5y89ij":"<0>Absenteeism 76%</0> (at least one sick day in twelve months)","m77zw01ngvz":"The source of these three studies is <0>Aldana, S. G.: Financial Impact of Health Promotion Programs. A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. American Journal of Health Promotion 2001;15(5):296-320.</0> Three US studies, in US dollars, two of them quasi-experimental and one <1>purely correlational</1>. All from before 2001. <2>At no point in this chain is there any German data.</2>","m7ax00j2xm8":"Arithmetically correct, conceptually wrong. The Destatis labour costs refer to hours <0>actually worked</0>, from which absence has already been removed. Multiplying them counts the same absence twice.","m7q0kh4dtp8":"<0>Health Prime AG</0><1>Samstagernstrasse 55</1><2>8832 Wollerau</2><3>info@health-prime.ch</3><4>+41 44 250 28 71</4><5>WhatsApp Chat</5>","m7s3c6mnozd":"<0>Data protection in corporate health management</0>","m7scecy5si8":"9.3 The current German data we work with<0>#</0>","m832ajt66ty":"The best-resourced German study on mental health at work (<0>FRIAA</0>, n = 550) had days of incapacity for work as its primary endpoint, found <1>no effect</1> and was <2>not cost-effective</2> in the formal cost-utility analysis.","m85lakcmaap":"<0>And what about budgets?</0><1/>17.6% of organisations have no financial resources for corporate health management, and 33.0% have less than €10,000 a year. Around half are therefore at or below €10,000, and this distribution has been stable since 2022. Only 18.3% expect a larger budget over the next three years (#whatsnext 2025, n = 1,424; personnel costs not included).","m8ni2uhmmdu":"WIdO's own model calculation: for 2025 the figure would be <0>20.8 days of absence instead of the 23.3 measured</0>, that is, 2.5 days or more than 10% lower, if there were no electronic sick note. Short illnesses of up to 14 days rose from 6.7 days of incapacity (2016) to 10.1 (2022) and stood at 9.1 in 2025. The share of respiratory infections with a sick note rose from 65% (2019) to almost 86% (2024). BKK Dachverband sums it up as '<1>more transparency, not more illness</1>'.","m8pfv9b43rc":"<0>If someone works out '€2.70 per euro invested' for you, that figure comes from here.</0>","m8tjbqp4ynt":"11.3 The second, usually larger route that almost nobody explains<0>#</0>","m964okmr5my":"<0>What is the most honest sentence on this page?</0><1/>This one: in 2024 the statutory health insurance funds spent around €282 million on workplace health promotion, and they judge its success essentially by whether participants and employers were satisfied.","m9g5cpsqvhw":"<0>Terms and conditions</0>","m9xtccrpnfq":"<0>28.5 days of incapacity per case</0>, against 10.5 days on average overall","ma2bcerxi41":"<0>randomised controlled</0>","ma4cd8ycq5t":"iga, Kreis, J.; Bödeker, W.: <0>iga.Report 3. Gesundheitlicher und ökonomischer Nutzen betrieblicher Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention</0>, 2003. <1>https://www.dguv.de/medien/inhalt/praevention/praev_lohnt_sich/wirtschaftlichkeit/wirtschaftlichkeit_volkswirtschaft/iga-rep-03.pdf</1>","ma8oa09q1c8":"<0>13</0>12. How we measure with you, and what we will not claim","macdlpw7w2d":"WIdO: <0>Fehlzeiten-Bilanz 2025</0>, press release of 16 March 2026, with the model calculation on the eAU effect. <1>https://www.wido.de/news-presse/pressemitteilungen/2026/fehlzeiten-bilanz-2025-leichter-rueckgang-der-krankheitstage-weiterhin-hohe-ausfallzeiten-wegen-langzeiterkrankungen/</1>","mavaq6u6pnr":"<0>iga.Report 49 (2026)</0>, 'Gesunde, sichere Arbeit: ein Schlüssel für die Arbeitgeberattraktivität?', a literature analysis, eight company interviews and a survey of <1>1,847 employees</1>, finds 'a <2>positive association</2>' between health measures and employer attractiveness and retention. The report contains <3>no ROI or euro figures</3>, and the finding is correlational and self-reported. We present it for what it is.","mb5h1z6lk0t":"<0><1>6</1>5. Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design</0>","mbpi0lxo4kg":"4.1 International<0>#</0>","mcbbqg9dibr":"<0>Partly, under conditions</0><1> No certification provided for; the prerequisite is a structured in-house process with needs analysis and involvement of employee representatives.</1>","mcenkqvhph":"<0>1.8</0>","mckqxmm47kb":"The trail leads via iga.Report 13 (2008) and iga.Report 3 (2003) to <0>Aldana (2001)</0>, a US literature review covering three studies in US dollars.","mcuid81qf3g":"<0/><1>Project management, facilitation, internal communication, documentation, evaluation</1>","md0l4h8d9i0":"<0>Health Prime AG</0><1>Samstagernstrasse 55</1><2>8832 Wollerau, Switzerland</2><3>Phone +41 44 250 28 71</3><4>info@health-prime.ch</4>","md9auo4aqzk":"Disclaimer<0>#</0>","mdeli1xmad2":"'Despite the predominantly positive results of the individual studies, the reviews therefore speak overall of <0>limited evidence for the economic benefit</0> ... the benefit has thus <1>not yet been rigorously proven scientifically</1>.' (chap. 11.1)","mdgj0lfonq6":"<0>New screenings for 2026</0>","mdgpv60ny8f":"Section 3 no. 34 EStG: <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__3.html</0>","me6fo5tuxmz":"'On this basis, <0>the studies rated as high quality, with an ROI of 1.8, show the lowest value on average</0>. <1>27%</1> of these studies could <2>not demonstrate any saving</2>. By contrast, the studies of <3>low or medium quality show an average ROI of 3</3>.'","meg1tjyo6eo":"<0>A successful screening can raise the short-term sickness absence rate</0>, because referrals turn presenteeism into visible incapacity for work. That is a success and looks like a failure in the statistics.","mekzlgmsxpt":"iga, Sockoll, I.; Kramer, I.; Bödeker, W.: <0>iga.Report 13</0>, 1st edition April 2008.","membi9xap9v":"A national sample of 11,199 respondents is an order of magnitude better than any commercial German presenteeism survey. And it shows presenteeism <0>less often</0> than absenteeism, a more sober picture than the promotional literature.","meyep49kjzt":"<0/><1>Health check-up or preventive examination</1>","mf0kcq0bwt3":"1.2 And another press release that still has an effect today<0>#</0>","mf3duke4hqh":"<0>Long-term cases over six weeks</0>","mfctd785426":"<0>6</0>5. Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design","mfg0e7fnq38":"11.5 The budget helper<0>#</0>","mg6um24tm0j":"Mulfinger, N.; Jarczok, M. N.; Müller, A. et al. (SEEGEN): <0>PLOS ONE</0> 2025;20(8):e0330490, DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0330490.","mgblgpikdpz":"<0>FRIAA</0> (\"Frühe Intervention am Arbeitsplatz\", early intervention at the workplace), multicentre randomised controlled trial at five German centres, <1>n = 550</1>, recruitment 09/2021 to 01/2023. A psychotherapeutic consultation hour at the workplace.","mgowmcadltd":"'the incapacity data used here [do] not cover all days of incapacity ..., but only those reported to the health insurance funds with a <0>sick note from a doctor</0>. This leads to <1>underestimation of short-term incapacity for work</1>.'","mh2un1i6xgo":"<0>17</0>16. Further reading","mh33mjktqn1":"6.1 BAuA, Volkswirtschaftliche Kosten durch Arbeitsunfähigkeit, data year 2024<0>#</0>","mh8d7qh5j5g":"<0>Steinke and Badura, 'Präsentismus. Ein Review zum Stand der Forschung', BAuA 2011</0> (541 sources screened, 285 studies included, narrative review, no meta-analysis). The operative sentence reads:","mhlrs2o08ky":"'Although the studies with a <0>randomised controlled design</0> also yield a mean <1>ROI of 1.8</1>, <2>more than 50% of the studies here show no saving</2>.'","mhn9h0szny9":"'With regard to the <0>majority of instruments</0>, however, there is still a <1>need for validation</1>.'<2/>'In future, what is needed above all is the <3>development of German-language measurement instruments</3>.'","mhuj3d15hdf":"This is the most important structural feature of German absence from a business perspective, and it is an argument for <0>targeting</0>, not for broad-based programmes.","mi3327msc43":"<0/><1>Massages, physiotherapy treatments</1>","miaydulh171":"BAuA: <0>Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung 2024: Entwicklung von Angebot und Teilnahme</0>. baua: Fakten, series BIBB-BAuA-57, 2026. <1>https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Fakten/BIBB-BAuA-57</1>","midebganjxj":"'The studies assume a cost-benefit ratio (return on investment, ROI) of <1>1:2.3 to 1:5.9</1> for <0>illness costs</0>. Savings in <2>absence</2> are given as between <3>1:2.5 and 1:4.85 respectively, up to 1:10.1</3> (cf. Kreis and Bödeker 2003). This means that, for example, for every <4>dollar</4> spent, <5>US$2.3</5> is saved through reduced illness costs in the first result mentioned.'","mizx50iai6y":"9.2 What the most-cited German source actually says<0>#</0>","mjk0vrsvtkw":"<0>5</0>Why the studies found nothing, and what that means for programme design<1>#</1>","mjklib7kr0k":"<0>20.8</0>","mjsi3iitslm":"Auer, T. F.; Sennefelder, L.; Meier, H.: <0>Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung: Ein leeres Versprechen?</0> Public Health Forum 2022;30(3):214-216, DOI 10.1515/pubhef-2022-0069.","mk6pcx6kaer":"The well-documented effect is something other than cost savings: <0>services at the workplace increase uptake.</0> That is exactly what we provide.","mkh1h6vgxgu":"Bundesministerium der Finanzen: letter of 20 April 2021, ref. IV C 5 - S 2342/20/10003 :003, <0>Umsetzungshilfe zur steuerlichen Anerkennung von Arbeitgeberleistungen nach § 3 Nummer 34 EStG</0>, published as Annex 18c to the Lohnsteuer-Hinweise. <1>https://esth.bundesfinanzministerium.de/lsth/2023/B-Anhaenge/Anhang-18c/anhang-18c.html</1>","mkhgd0w9pfb":"<0>2. Outcome</0>","mki6vcydtaq":"Table 1 of the fact sheet contains a misprint (\"20.08 days of incapacity for work\"). 881.5 ÷ 42.283 = <0>20.8</0>5. The correct value is 20.8, and it appears in the running text of the document.","mkrd5gasruo":"<0>18</0>Disclaimer","mkrhkwsgrg3":"<0>3</0>Why US figures do not apply in Germany, and iga says so itself<1>#</1>","ml49y8i5q9r":"This page explains the publicly available evidence and the legal position. It is <0>not legal or tax advice</0> and does not replace a review of your individual case. For tax questions, what counts is the view of your tax adviser or a binding ruling under Section 42e EStG.","mlfu6e7iuiy":"The tool gives an assessment for each measure, with the legal reference, including where a measure does <0>not</0> fall under Section 3 no. 34 EStG. A calculator that treats everything as tax-free would be a liability at the next payroll tax audit.","mlhhref2ups":"<0>About us</0>","mllfeyom25v":"The range exists in no source. The original says '1:2.5 and 1:4.85 <0>respectively</0>'.","mln6b1s668a":"Rothermund, E. et al. (FRIAA): <0>Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics</0>, December 2025, n = 550.","mltz624q8ky":"Pillar 3: employer attractiveness and retention<0>#</0>","mm1nk1obfam":"<0>16</0>15. Sources","mm557g9vsnl":"<0>We report these figures and do not claim to have caused them.</0> There is no German randomised study of an entire corporate health management programme, the best German study found no effect on absence, and iga.Report 40 states that the reviews do not allow statements on transferability between companies.","mm7yj3lcgob":"11.4 What is expressly not covered<0>#</0>","mmdkleo2yym":"<0>Our three-level model:</0>","mmgtv9g0a5v":"<0>Workshops and seminars</0>","mmhtkcvx07i":"<0>The report's verdict, verbatim in two places:</0>","mmjbema61ng":"<0>2</0>The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself<1>#</1>","mmxm7dg7i8q":"<0>A tool may put a figure on a burden. It may not put a figure on a saving it cannot substantiate.</0>","mn8w7iund15":"<0>The list in para. 37 is long and not capped at €600.</0> It expressly includes: analysis services (incapacity, work situation and age structure analyses, employee surveys, needs workshops), advice to company managers on health-promoting work design and health-conscious leadership behaviour, advice on goal and framework development, advice to individual employees on workplace-related problems, occupational reintegration management (BEM) measures, setting up project management, moderation of working groups, internal communication, documentation, evaluation and quality assurance, multiplier training, protective vaccinations in line with STIKO recommendations, and:","mnfm76yys3s":"<0>BAuA, \"Präsentismus und Absentismus\", 2025</0>, based on the BAuA Working Time Survey 2023, <1>n = 11,199 people in employment</1>, dual-frame telephone sample:","mnnid9hey93":"<0><1>9</1>8. Absence cost calculator</0>","mnsyrtzxnu6":"4.2 Germany<0>#</0>","mo8ehqj8vse":"<0>2</0>1. The figure you find everywhere, and why we do not use it","mofl534xy0u":"<0>The scope is more sobering than the headline:</0> 100 systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. Quality was assessed using <1>AMSTAR 2</1>. Only <2>40 of 100</2> were convincing (36 moderate, 4 high). <3>49 reviews</3> remained for data extraction. Of these, <4>six</4> deal with economic benefit, and iga included all six regardless of their AMSTAR rating because there were so few.","moh4mo7mc8i":"7.1 The eAU effect: more transparency, not more illness<0>#</0>","moienu8vk85":"<0>And a footnote showing that iga did not calculate these ROI values itself.</0> Footnote 28:","mppe9v1z4fm":"<0>Katherine Baicker</0>'s role is remarkable: she is the first author of the 2010 meta-analysis from which the '2.7' and the '25%' come, and a co-author of the 2019 randomised study that could not reproduce those effects. The correction comes from the author of the original finding.","mpv70cbzfr5":"<0>€227bn</0> = €5,376 per person = <1>€258 per day of incapacity</1> = 5.1% of gross national income","mpy7sixaezv":"<0>The figures, verbatim from chapter 11.2:</0>","mq2tud9q34l":"Aldana, S. G.: <0>Financial Impact of Health Promotion Programs: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature</0>. American Journal of Health Promotion 2001;15(5):296-320.","mqe43im6mk6":"<0>Loss of gross value added</0>","mrczxs2cnlu":"<0/><1>A: National benchmark (BAuA daily rates)</1>","mrkpaibzy3a":"<0>Vein screening</0>","mrnha7wepth":"German presenteeism prevalence is quoted at anywhere between 51 and 78%. <0>This range is an artefact of how the question is asked, not a change in the phenomenon.</0> 'At least one day while ill' (BAuA, 54%) and 'felt really ill' (DGB-Index, 63%) measure different thresholds. We present them neither as a contradiction nor as a trend.","ms4mp7vv6b9":"GKV-Spitzenverband: <0>Leitfaden Prävention. Handlungsfelder und Kriterien nach § 20 Abs. 2 SGB V</0>, version of 17 December 2025. <1>https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/media/dokumente/krankenversicherung_1/praevention__selbsthilfe__beratung/praevention/praevention_leitfaden/20251218_Leitfaden_Pravention_2025_barrierefrei.pdf</1>","ms861ekrvu6":"DAK-Gesundheit: <0>Gesundheitsreport 2023</0>, 19 April 2023, routine data on 2.4 million insured people plus over 7,000 forsa respondents. <1>https://www.dak.de/dak/unternehmen/reporte-forschung/gesundheitsreport-2023_34592</1>","msa1w4ecvol":"<0>iga itself writes that US figures are not transferable</0>, because German employers do not bear their employees' direct medical costs.","msfckjdgphx":"<0>+47% since 2014</0> (index 2014 = 100 rising to 147.0 in 2024), musculoskeletal 107.7","msh3c8bzknh":"<0>Studies</0>","mskrh51zjrb":"<0>The increase from €500 to €600 did not come from the Annual Tax Act 2019 (Jahressteuergesetz 2019).</0> It came from the <1>Third Bureaucracy Relief Act (Drittes Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz) of 22 November 2019, BGBl. I 2019 p. 1746</1>, with effect from 1 January 2020. The error appears everywhere.","mstciytx4at":"<0>Can you guarantee us a return on investment?</0><1/>No. And that answer is worth more than a yes. The most recent evidence report from Germany's prevention stakeholders gives an ROI of 1.8 in the methodologically strong studies. In the randomised trials, more than 50% show no savings at all, and the same report states that US figures cannot be transferred because German employers do not bear treatment costs. Anyone who promises you a return has either not checked or is counting on you not to.","mt32oejhm98":"First, some context: in 2024 the statutory health insurance funds spent around <0>€282 million</0> on workplace health promotion. In 86% of the funded activities, a success evaluation took place or is planned. The indicators reported were: <1>employee satisfaction 73%, employer satisfaction 68%, acceptance and uptake 62%, processes and workflows 25%.</1> Health outcomes, absence and costs do not appear among the reported indicators <2>at all</2> (GKV/MD Bund, Präventionsbericht 2025, reporting year 2024).","mtpxtbli7k8":"<0><1>16</1>15. Sources</0>","mtu4gdcrq1s":"<0>5</0>4. What the best studies found","mu4je8ntg6a":"<0>3. Impact</0>","mua6apunq3l":"7.2 The six-week limit: why your direct costs are capped<0>#</0>","mujc4ymonv6":"<0/>Disputed <1>and the source says so itself</1>","muk59aaljw4":"Jones, D.; Molitor, D.; Reif, J.: <0>What Do Workplace Wellness Programs Do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study</0>. Quarterly Journal of Economics 2019;134(4):1747-1791.","muplvbk9lc3":"<0/><1>Analysis services: incapacity, work situation, age structure analysis, survey, needs workshop</1>","mw5f2rw4lw7":"<0>7</0>Two honest corrections nobody else makes<1>#</1>","mwtbnhfjbma":"<0>Contact</0><1><2/></1>","mwx18imhozq":"<0/><1>Prevention course without certification</1>","mwzc29jtyx2":"In addition, <0>para. 30</0>: if measure, accommodation, meals and travel are 'invoiced at a <1>flat total amount</1>', an apportionment by estimate is '<2>not permitted</2>'. The BFH has confirmed this (judgment of 23 November 2023 - VI R 24/21).","mxa8z78545m":"<0/><1>Workplace health promotion measure under Section 20b SGB V in the health insurance funds' fields of action</1>","mxdlrbommp8":"Initiative Gesundheit und Arbeit (iga), Barthelmes, I.; Bödeker, W.; Sörensen, J. et al.: <0>iga.Report 40. Wirksamkeit und Nutzen arbeitsweltbezogener Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention. Zusammenstellung der wissenschaftlichen Evidenz 2012 bis 2018</0>, 1st edition November 2019. <1>https://www.iga-info.de/fileadmin/redakteur/Veroeffentlichungen/iga_Reporte/Dokumente/iga-Report_40_Wirksamkeit_und_Nutzen_Gesundheitsfoerderung_Praevention.pdf</1>","mxikjjcp0vb":"<0>Thyroid ultrasound</0>","mxndca7ic6f":"<0><1>8</1>7. Two honest corrections nobody else makes</0>","mxr9cfq7hh9":"<0>Legal sources</0>","mxzk2knoe2h":"<0><1>3</1>2. The most honest ROI figure in the industry comes from the industry itself</0>","my0iok4x4qr":"Section 3(1) EntgFG (continued payment of wages for up to six weeks): <0>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/entgfg/__3.html</0>","myfryoqgx12":"9.4 The range, and why it is not a trend<0>#</0>","myi575fu7wp":"<0>15</0>14. FAQs","myrqo7snfj":"Statistisches Bundesamt: press release no. 148 of 29 April 2026, Arbeitskosten je geleisteter Arbeitsstunde 2025. <0>https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/04/PD26_148_624.html</0>","myuipyei7o0":"Rate of findings, <0>rate of referral to standard care</0>, share of previously known versus newly detected findings, self-efficacy and intention to act","myycgv7li3p":"<0>€85.6 billion</0><1>Continued payment of wages in 2025</1><2>IW Köln, 2026</2>","mz3uk52ka55":"Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss, Gesundheitsuntersuchungs-Richtlinie. <0>https://www.g-ba.de/richtlinien/10/</0>","mzgyzf0o1e1":"<0>4.5</0>","mzo1wr34eo8":"And five reasons why we do <0>not</0> convert presenteeism into euros:","t1fzvydj1vxj":"+{0} {1} {2} {3} {4}","t1gn2ycuv8p4":"{0}%","t29tealerxyy":"{0}"}}