Workers' Safety Proposal: The Commission has been tasked to draft a directive aiming at shielding workers from potential occupational accident hazards.
High Workload and Sick Leave in Leipzig City Administration: Green Faction Calls for Action
A significant number of employees in Leipzig city administration are absent due to illness daily, with high workload being a major contributing factor. According to recent data, the most frequent causes of illness were sustained professional overload, leadership behavior, or private issues.
The city administration, like many utilities and public sectors, is grappling with limited staff capacity and resource constraints, leading to employees having to "do more with less." This situation directly contributes to workload stress and increases sick leave rates.
Another challenge is the lack of integrated and accessible data systems, which means many tasks remain manual and siloed, escalating complexity and inefficiency in work processes. Outdated data management creates bottlenecks and delays, adding to employee strain.
Workforce issues, including an aging employee base and challenges in recruiting skilled replacements, worsen the pressure on existing staff, further contributing to high workload and absenteeism. Without adequate knowledge transfer and workforce development, the administration risks operational disruptions and increased sick leave from overwork or burnout.
To address these issues, digitalization and automation of administrative tasks are key proposed measures. By modernizing IT infrastructures, integrating data systems, and automating routine processes, the city administration aims to reduce workload, improve operational efficiency, and thus lower sick leave incidents.
However, there is no uniform overload management system in the Leipzig city administration, and employees' overload reports take very different paths. This lack of a unified system has been a recurring topic in the committee responsible for personnel matters, but no action has been taken yet.
The Green faction, a city council faction, has been critical of the current state of city services, citing partially closed citizen offices, long wait times for appointments, delayed naturalizations, and delayed implementation of city council resolutions. They believe that funds for measures to implement new leadership guidelines have been cut this year and are planned to be cut again in 2026.
In response, the Green faction has submitted an application with three central demands: a uniform digital reporting procedure for overload notifications, integration of overload management with occupational health management, and a concept for targeted support measures in areas with high sick leave rates. They consider the introduction of a systematic overload management system indispensable, given the ongoing budget consolidation and the city council's goal of reducing the number of positions by 500.
Chantal Schneiß, a member of the Green faction, emphasizes that reducing staff while ignoring the increasing burden on employees is not a viable solution. The Leipzig city administration is currently debating a reduction of several hundred positions with the dual budget 2025/2026.
The Green faction aims to strengthen the city administration as an attractive employer and secure the quality of administrative services for citizens. They plan to introduce a standardized overload management system in the Leipzig city administration, which is directly related to the recently proposed and majority-rejected recall of the advisory committee "Strategic Personnel Matters" and the demand to actively involve staff in the task criticism process.
Employees' suggestions for process optimization are valued by the Green faction for improving daily routines. They believe that the introduction of a systematic overload management system is crucial to ensure a healthy work environment and maintain the quality of services in the face of budget consolidation.
- To combat high workload and reduce sick leave incidents in the Leipzig city administration, the Green faction has proposed the implementation of a unified digital reporting procedure for overload notifications, the integration of overload management with occupational health management, and a concept for targeted support measures in areas with high sick leave rates.
- Recognizing the importance of mental health in the workplace, the Green faction aims to strengthen the city administration as an attractive employer by introducing a standardized overload management system, which they believe is crucial to ensure a healthy work environment for employees.
- In efforts to promote workplace wellness and health-and-wellness within the Leipzig city administration, the Green faction also advocates for fitness-and-exercise programs and mental health support to help employees manage stress and improve overall well-being, thereby potentially decreasing sick leave rates.
