Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me Hannah Mullane.

Today we head to Germany to take a look at their sick leave policy.

It's one of the most generous in the world for employees, offering six weeks full pay from the first day you're sick,

after which your health insurance will pay 70% of your salary for another 18 months.

But what does a policy like that cost the economy?

We have a huge shortage of workers already.

Now people take more than 20 days of a particular year.

That is a huge burden, not just in companies on their labor costs, but also in consumers

and people

not getting services delivered when they need it. The average worker in Germany takes 20 days

of sick leave a year paid for by the employer, a big cost to business. If one employee is sick,

we definitely feel it. It can ricochet through the rest of the team.

Today, we'll hear from German businesses about how they manage employees going off sick

and ask what has led to workers in Germany taking so many more days off than their counterparts in other countries.

That's all coming up on this episode of Business Daily.

Thank you. That's all coming up on this episode of Business Daily. It's early in the morning in Berlin, Germany's capital city.

Commuters are making their way into the office ready to start the working day.

How do they feel about taking time off sick? I sent our reporter

Carrie King down to Strass Station on the eastern side of the city to find out.

My name is Dennis and I'm a copywriter in the agency. And what's your opinion generally

on sick leave policy in Germany? I think we have a quite fair policy for the employees.

I don't have to feel bad if I feel sick.

...