Higher absenteeism among women reflects a form of inequality compared to men regarding the quality of life at work. How to reconcile women’s work and quality of life: an update in the program “Quality of life at work meetings” with Laurence Breton-Kueny, HR director of the AFNOR group and vice-president of the National Association of HR managers .
- Absenteeism at work remains higher among women than among men.
- Women more often have to reconcile professional life and family responsibilities or caring responsibilities.
- For the vice-president of ANDRH, women’s occupational health problems and their solutions differ depending on the professions and company organizations.
It is a bit of a mirror image of the disparities between women and men in terms of health and quality of life at work: although absenteeism is decreasing in companies, it remains higher among women. 6% of them are affected compared to only 4% of men.
Combining professional life and family responsibilities
Several explanations for this. Often, despite societal developments, the phenomenon of “double day” which increases the mental load of women who work and must combine their professional life with their family responsibilities is involved. “Things are changing with new fathers and the introduction of paternity leave upon the birth of a child, underlines Laurence Breton-Kueny, HR director of the AFNOR group and vice-president of ANDRH, an association which brings together the HR directors of nearly 6,000 companies in France, but we must not neglect the case of single-parent families with family responsibilities most often falling on women and also that they are also more often than men concerned with caring responsibilities (63% of female caregivers are employees, Editor’s note), It is therefore important that they can benefit from material and psychological support.”
Burn-out: greater deterioration in women
An observation that is confirmed by numerous statistics which show that in terms of mental health, “being a woman is a risk”as Laurence Breton-Kueny recalls, referring to studies carried out on this subject in Canada. In France, according to a occupational health barometer established in 2023 by Malakoff Humanis, the psychological health of women would deteriorate, with 44% of them reporting a deterioration in this area compared to the previous year while this figure is only 32% for men. “On this problem of burn-out which I prefer to call depressive or exhaustion disorders, it is important that companies also work on primary prevention, personal life does not stop at the door of the company”insists the vice-president of ANDRH who also mentions in this regard a necessary change in practices to facilitate the return to work after an absence linked to a mental health problem: “Companies should not refrain from remaining in contact with employees on sick leave; we see that when these contacts do not exist, the leaves are longer.”
When menstruation and endometriosis affect daily professional life
But other health causes specific to women and having an impact on their quality of life at work should also be highlighted. While parliamentary initiatives aim to make them better taken into account, menstruation or endometriosis often affect their daily professional lives by also generating absenteeism. “We are all different when it comes to these health problems, it is difficult to make general laws, not all women, for example, need to benefit from menstrual leave, these are subjects that can find answers on a case-by-case basis in companies with the allocation of additional days of leave for women who really need them or by granting them more opportunities to telework.” believes Laurence Breton-Kueny.
MSD: higher prevalence in women
“Tailor-made” solutions that the vice-president of ANDRH would also like to see put in place for women working in professions considered difficult. In health and social work professions (67% of employees in this sector are women), there are more physical health problems (47% compared to 37% in all sectors combined). And for professions requiring high physical involvement with an impact on health, a Public Health France study shows that the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) is 58% among women compared to 51% among men. “On this subject, it is important to see on a case-by-case basis, and depending on the particularities of each professional sector, how long certain functions can be exercised and what are the possibilities for retraining”estimates Laurence Breton-Kueny.
