Robots on the Factory Floor Are Sending Workers Home Sick — New Research Points to a 20% Rise in Absences
Published on 10/15/2026 at 19:02 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Factory workers, tradespeople and logistics staff take roughly 20 percent more sick days once networked machinery and robotics arrive on site, according to a joint study by the ifo Institute, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the University of Konstanz. Office employees show no such pattern — for them, the same technological upgrades did not translate into more illness.
The findings draw on data spanning 2011 to 2019, capturing an earlier wave of workplace modernisation. Generative AI systems fall outside the scope of the analysis. The ifo Institute says follow-up research on artificial intelligence and health is already planned.
Why the shop floor reacts differently
Study author Oliver Schlenker of the ifo Institute pins the absence increase largely on a lack of prior exposure. Many of these roles had seen only limited digitalisation before, so the shift caught employees off guard.
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Several stressors emerged from the research: inadequate training, repeated system changes, algorithmic pacing of workflows, and anxiety about losing one's job entirely to automation.
Compounding matters, manual workers and those with lower educational qualifications already record above-average rates of chronic back pain, joint wear, cardiovascular disease and psychological complaints.
How strongly a workforce can push back against change was illustrated by Strehl, a seated-aid manufacturer based in Bremervörde. Robots were brought in to spare staff from lifting wet plaster models weighing 17 to 20 kilograms — yet the restructuring led to voluntary resignations.
Comparable patterns appear in a KU Leuven survey of more than 2,800 employees in Belgium's metal and textile sectors. Technology did lift productivity there, but it also raised the level of strain workers reported feeling.
About 70 percent of those surveyed had little or no say in how the systems were introduced, and only 25 percent knew how management was using their operational data.
What managers can do to ease the pressure
The ifo researchers urge leaders to explain clearly why new systems are being adopted, involve staff early in trial phases, and provide paid further training along with ongoing support. During transition periods, they recommend deliberately scaling back workloads.
Works council cooperation and risk assessments that explicitly cover psychological factors are seen as key tools. Martin Enkelmann of Activ Industrie Flensburg additionally suggests phased rollouts through hybrid models, and redeployment rather than layoffs.
The scale of the problem is underlined by EU-OSHA figures: 45 percent of workers in Europe face psychosocial risks on the job, and 44 percent report severe time pressure. According to the European Trade Union Institute, work-related depression costs the European Union more than 100 billion euros annually.
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Marking Mental Health Week from 10 to 20 October 2026, the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) and the employers' liability insurance associations also pointed to instruments such as the "Erfahrungsschatz Arbeitsgestaltung" portal, designed to help companies systematically identify psychological strain early on.
