As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.”
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla Rotzekrank zur Arbeit gehen, ist sehr deutsch.
Ich kann daher auch nicht nachvollziehen, was der (Herr) Bundeskanzler da von sich gibt: Mutmaßlich ist er einfach der Nazi-Propaganda vom faulen Gesindel verfallen?
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And long Covid. If you do not protect the population against repeated Covid, there will be more short-term and long-term illness.
@ABScientist This. Post-viral illness and disability must be accounted for. @hoppla
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@hoppla
I found the same working in mental health support. It was much more common to stop too late, making medium or long term disability more likely. This is encourged by society.@treehugger thx Lyndsay for sharing this. That matches my daily experiences.
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@ABScientist This. Post-viral illness and disability must be accounted for. @hoppla
@feisty_lemming @ABScientist thx for your input guys! Personally I don't see that too often and don't hear that often from colleagues. Can you recommend a landmark paper on this topic?
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla Also, at least some people have gotten more conscientious about not wanting to get their colleagues sick. One way to reduce sick leave AND reduce illnesses is to not just allow but actively encourage remote work when people have mild symptoms like coughs and runny nose. Obviously that doesn't work in all jobs, but it should absolutely be the norm for office work that if you're coughing and sneezing, you join meetings by phone or video from home rather than in the office.
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@feisty_lemming @ABScientist thx for your input guys! Personally I don't see that too often and don't hear that often from colleagues. Can you recommend a landmark paper on this topic?
@hoppla It is a complex condition with several subtypes. There’s a growing body of literature. But this recent study might be on point for you with respect to workforce participation and productivity: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2026.108913 @ABScientist
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@feisty_lemming @ABScientist thx for your input guys! Personally I don't see that too often and don't hear that often from colleagues. Can you recommend a landmark paper on this topic?
@hoppla There is also this, specific to long Covid and ME/CFS impacts in Germany. https://mecfs-research.org/en/costreport-long-covid-and-mecfs/@ABScientist@forall.social
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@feisty_lemming @ABScientist thx for your input guys! Personally I don't see that too often and don't hear that often from colleagues. Can you recommend a landmark paper on this topic?
A recent paper on the biological mechanisms:
"immune dysregulation, viral persistence, autonomic dysfunction, microvascular pathology"
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A recent paper on the biological mechanisms:
"immune dysregulation, viral persistence, autonomic dysfunction, microvascular pathology"
Long Covid can easily be confused with burnout, which also has severe fatigue, brain fog, inability to focus.
One is caused by a virus driving the brain's immune system in overdrive, the other by trying to do too much.
And they can interact. If you brain is mush from a virus, you can try and push through, and then push you over de edge.
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Long Covid can easily be confused with burnout, which also has severe fatigue, brain fog, inability to focus.
One is caused by a virus driving the brain's immune system in overdrive, the other by trying to do too much.
And they can interact. If you brain is mush from a virus, you can try and push through, and then push you over de edge.
The reason why it is likely to be lots of long Covid is not just the medical literature indicating that around 10% of infections lead to long term (> 3 months) symptoms.
It is because it is often young women who drop out from work. This is the demographic most at risk from long Covid due to combination of exposure (healthcare, teaching) and a stronger immune system (doing more damage to the body).
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla Engel's had a term for it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_murder
just because we're doing better in the mean, doesn't mean there isn't a long tail that still dips into similar conditions
an extreme enough meritocracy is ultimately about proving your right to live
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
You probably know this, but I am going to say it anyway:
"people don't want to work" is not worth struggling over.
It is an obvious piece of fascist propaganda.
A far-right myth of an undeserving people "mooching off our poor hard-working job-creators".
What a joke. It's so clumsy and obvious.
Throw it down and step on it.
If peopel are getting sick more: It's covid. It's car exhausts. It's hateful middle-aged men with power. All of that is enough to make a person sick.
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@hoppla Either the politicians who say these things have no idea what life is like for less privileged people... Or...
There's something my history teacher said: "They didn't say these things because they believed they were true, but because they had to be true to justify their plans." -
As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla Those who don't want to work, what do they want to do?
I doubt anyone wants to sit and feel useless, and there are many ways to contribute to society that we don't think of as "work". -
As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla IMO this (the problems and the demonisation of those suffering) is rooted in the inequality that is the main result of capitalism, which in turn is the seed of fascism time and again.
Until we can produce growth in a truly democratic system (where money does not relate to power), we are doomed to repeat the horrors of preceding centuries.
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla precisely!
One rather sees bosses sending people home due to pushing themselves sick to work than anyone trying to "abuse" sick leave…
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As a GP in Germany, I struggle with the claim that “people don’t want to work.” In daily practice, I see the opposite: many patients push themselves to keep working, even when they should rest. They worry about burdening colleagues, unfinished tasks, or upcoming deadlines.
If we want to understand rising sick leave, we need to look at real factors: increasing workload, constant pressure, lack of recovery time, social isolation, and overall exhaustion. Reducing this to a question of “motivation” ignores both evidence and lived experience.
In my experience, people who genuinely try to avoid work are a tiny minority. Framing the issue this way feels similar to old narratives about unemployment—oversimplified, misleading, and disconnected from reality.
#MedMastodon #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare #WorkStress #MentalHealth #SickLeave #HealthPolicy #Germany #Arbeitswelt #Burnout #PublicHealth #Reform #AU #Arbeitsunfähigkeit #Gesundheitsreform #gesundheitspolitik #gesundheitssystem
@hoppla we still are in a pandemic that most people are trying to memory hole instead of trying to protect themselves. of course people get sick a lot. this entire society is a bad joke.
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@ozeng @alicemcalicepants you're of course absolutely right. However, my post merely suggested arguments I hear from patients every single day. Other factors (career, keeping job, ...) lie deeper and are not as easily exposed in a standard consultation.
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@hoppla Those who don't want to work, what do they want to do?
I doubt anyone wants to sit and feel useless, and there are many ways to contribute to society that we don't think of as "work".@zash I can't applaud loud enough for this view. In a world shifted by AI we need a radical new understanding about what we want to call work. As far as I comphrend social sciences is working on it for decades already.
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Long Covid can easily be confused with burnout, which also has severe fatigue, brain fog, inability to focus.
One is caused by a virus driving the brain's immune system in overdrive, the other by trying to do too much.
And they can interact. If you brain is mush from a virus, you can try and push through, and then push you over de edge.
CC @frozette
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