When an employee is signed off sick with burnout, pay continues: at least 70% of wages for up to 104 weeks in the Netherlands, statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks in the UK, six weeks of full pay in Germany. Dutch law also keeps the job open, so you can't backfill permanently there. The pay line is fixed. The cover line is yours, and we'd make it end when they return.
What must you do in the first week?
Don't ask for the diagnosis. In the Netherlands the company doctor assesses the employee, not you, and if the absence is expected to run past six weeks you report it to that doctor. Your job is to stay in touch without pressure.
The KVK (the Dutch Chamber of Commerce) guideline on burnout recovery says to ask open questions without suggestive framing and to tell the person in advance when you'll call. Acas, the UK's workplace advice body, adds that contact is by agreement: ask what level of contact they want and respect it.
Then do the part that's yours. Write one line per piece of work saying who owns it now. Anything the absent engineer solely owned is the real emergency, and it's an engineering problem you can solve without touching their medical situation. Send medical questions to the company doctor or your counsel.
What do the rules require by country?
Three sets of rules, all with pay that continues for a defined period and isn't yours to negotiate down.
Netherlands
Business.gov.nl, the Dutch government's business portal, says you pay at least 70% of the last earned wage, plus holiday allowance, for up to 104 weeks.
The company doctor does a problem analysis at week 6, you and the employee agree an action plan by week 8, and you review progress every 6 weeks. If the illness runs past 42 weeks, you notify UWV, the Dutch benefits agency.
You must keep the job open. You generally can't dismiss in the first two years of illness, and if your reintegration efforts fall short you can owe up to a year more of wages. Business.gov.nl's page on dismissing a sick employee mentions a proposal to let you start replacing the person sooner, and says it isn't yet known when that would take effect. Plan under today's rules.
Germany
Under section 3 of the Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz you continue full pay for up to six weeks. If the same illness returns, a new six-week period starts only after six months without it, or twelve months since it began. So a relapse soon after a return doesn't restart your clock, which is a reason to keep cover in place while the return settles.
United Kingdom
GOV.UK sets statutory sick pay at GBP 123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. Your contract may pay more.
Acas covers the process: self-certify for the first seven calendar days, a fit note after that, a return-to-work meeting, and a phased return where one is agreed. If the cause is mental health, Acas says to check whether work contributed. Do that before you plan cover: cover that recreates the same load sets the return up to fail.
Why is a permanent backfill the wrong move?
Because the person is coming back. A permanent hire into that seat leaves you two salaries and a returning engineer with no role, which is the worst outcome for them and for the team that has to absorb it.
It also reads wrong to everyone watching. The rest of your team is deciding what happens to them if they're ever signed off. A replacement hire is the quickest way to give them the wrong answer.
If the person is leaving rather than returning, use the 30-day plan for an engineer who is leaving instead.
How do you cover the work?
You have four options, and most teams combine two. The wider choice of models is in software development engagement models.
| Option | Cash cost | Ends with the absence? |
|---|---|---|
| Redistribute | None | Yes |
| Fixed-term employee | Salary and on-costs | No |
| Interim contractor | Hourly rate | Yes |
| Pause scope | None | Yes |
Redistribute
Spread the work across the team. It costs no cash and ends cleanly, but the hours land on colleagues who were already full. Do it for a few weeks, not months. Past that, you're swapping one burnout risk for several, and our piece on covering on-call for a small team shows how thin a rota gets when one person drops out.
Fixed-term employee
You hire someone on a contract with an end date. It works when you know roughly how long the absence runs, which you usually don't. If the date is wrong, you either extend or end early, and hiring takes weeks you may not have.
Interim contractor
This is the one we'd pick for a months-long absence. Scope a defined slice of the engineer's work, tie the contract's end to the return plan, and agree hours that can drop during a phased return. For the first two weeks, see onboarding a contract developer in the first 14 days. In the Netherlands, check a freelancer's status under the Wet DBA rules before you sign.
Pause scope
Cut the roadmap item the person owned. It's the cheapest line, and for work off the critical path it's often the right one. Tell stakeholders what slips rather than spreading it invisibly across the team.
Worked example: one engineer out for 26 weeks
A Dutch product company has a senior engineer on EUR 80,000 a year, signed off for 26 weeks. That's EUR 1,538 a week. At full pay, 26 weeks costs EUR 40,000. At the legal floor of 70%, it's EUR 28,000.
Now the cover. An interim senior contractor for 24 hours a week over 26 weeks is 624 hours. At HighCircl's EUR 45-105 an hour, that's EUR 28,080 to EUR 65,520.
| EUR over 26 weeks | Pay line | Cover line | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full pay | 40,000 | 28,080-65,520 | 68,080-105,520 |
| 70% floor | 28,000 | 28,080-65,520 | 56,080-93,520 |
Redistributing instead costs no cash, but your team absorbs the same 624 hours.
In the UK the pay line is far smaller. Up to 28 weeks of statutory sick pay comes to at most GBP 3,451, against EUR 28,080-65,520 for 26 weeks of contractor cover, so cover is most of your bill unless your contract pays more.
How do you plan the return so it doesn't end in a relapse?
Start at the week-6 analysis, not on the return date. In the Netherlands that analysis includes an expected return date; in the UK, a fit note covers the absence and a phased return can be agreed. Neither tells you the real length, and nobody can: how long someone is out is individual. So plan cover in six-week blocks and review at each evaluation.
When the date firms up, build the return in steps. Agree a reduced load, a scoped set of work and no on-call at first, and let the cover taper rather than stop. The contractor hands work back in pieces, so the returning engineer picks up a system that has been looked after, not a pile.
They set the pace with their doctor. Your job is to make sure the work is ready for whatever pace that is, and to keep their health out of planning meetings.
What this means for your cover decision
You're deciding how much cover to buy, for how long, and in what form, while the person is expected back. Our rule: scope a defined slice, give the contract an end condition tied to the return plan, and never backfill the seat.
Treat the pay line as fixed and the cover line as the variable you control. Ask finance to approve cover in the six-week blocks above, not as one large number.
The budget question this raises is whether contractors count against headcount. Read whether contractors count against headcount before you take the request to your CFO.
Hiring interim engineers through HighCircl
An absence with no fixed end date is awkward to staff on a contract that wants a start and a finish. HighCircl has no minimum hour commitment, so cover can shrink as a phased return builds, and a 72-hour shortlist means you aren't waiting weeks for the interim to start. If that fits your situation, you can hire senior nearshore engineers.
FAQ
Does burnout count as sick leave?
Yes, where a doctor signs the person off. In the Netherlands the company doctor assesses the employee; in the UK a fit note covers the absence. You don't ask for the diagnosis.
Do Dutch sick pay rules apply to burnout?
Yes. The employer pays at least 70% of wages for up to 104 weeks, and the reintegration steps run from week 6.
Can I replace an engineer who is on long-term sick leave?
Not permanently in the Netherlands, where the job has to stay open and dismissal is generally barred for the first two years of illness. Cover the work with fixed-term or contractor help that ends when they return.
What happens when sick pay runs out?
In the UK, statutory sick pay stops after 28 weeks, though your contract may pay longer. In the Netherlands, the employer's pay duty and the reintegration plan run for up to two years.