Why working poorly costs more than not working

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While the government seeks to achieve €43.8 billion in savings by 2026, another chasm continues to quietly widen: workplace malaise. Chronic absenteeism, massive burnout, widespread demobilization... Work, when it makes people sick or indifferent, costs more than it brings in.

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According to the IBET 2024 index [ PDF ], this collective disengagement represents an annual cost of 14,840 euros per employee, or nearly 300 billion euros per year. More than 10% of our GDP, evaporated in indifference!

While we debate budget cuts, we ignore this silent bloodletting. A paradox: we are considering restricting reimbursement for long-term sick leave (particularly for cancer), but we are allowing the spread of a professional culture that, in and of itself, generates fatigue, anxiety, illness, and a loss of meaning.

Burnout and depression

Absenteeism rose from 3.2% in 2019 to 4.5% in 2024. And 92% of French employees say they are not engaged in their work, placing France in second-to-last place in Europe [ Gallup , 2024] . And among absences of more than three months, half are linked to burnout, 47% to depression [ Prévia , 2025] .

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Companies are paying the price in turnover, unplanned layoffs, declining quality, delays, and loss of competitiveness. The State is paying the consequences through Social Security, the increase in daily allowances, and the multiple hidden costs linked to collective disengagement. We are putting forward a simple, concrete, and ambitious proposal: to establish well-being at work as a national cause starting in 2026, an election year. Why? Because this recognition would allow us to:

• mobilize all public and private actors around the same objective;
• generalize the measurement of well-being at work through the creation of a mandatory IBET sector index for companies with more than 50 employees, as recommended by Victor Waknine, the originator of the indicator and its calculation method based on the economic impacts of disengagement;
• make certain public aid conditional on clear commitments regarding quality of life at work;
• and above all, equip all organizations, including VSEs/SMEs, with concrete and measurable levers for sustainable action.

Across France, initiatives are already being successfully implemented. Some companies are focusing on cohesion, recognition, and collective motivation through approaches based on gamification, social interactions, and a culture of connection. Others are developing prevention and personalized support policies to support employees in vulnerable situations: parenthood, caregiving , disability, mental health, financial difficulties, etc.

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