Sickness absences have risen amongst Perth and Kinross Council employees to above pre-pandemic levels.
One councillor suggested it may be due to a societal shift where before COVID some ill workers pushed through but now stay home to avoid passing on germs.
While PKC has said it will continue supporting employees absent through ill health it will also seek to improve its absence figures which impact the council's productivity.
PKC's Annual Performance Report 2022/23 showed a decline in performance due to sickness absence levels increasing.
The average number of days taken for absence for non-teaching employees rose from eight in 2020/21 to 11 in 2021/22 and 13 in 2022/23. For teachers, it has more than doubled from an average of four days in 2020/21 to almost nine in 2022/23.
The paper went before two committees last week.
Presenting the report to PKC's Scrutiny and Performance Committee on June 7, PKC's chief operating officer Karen Donaldson said: "Management continue to support staff who are absent through ill health and there are a range of support measures: occupational health, counselling, supports for financial wellbeing, mental health, healthy eating to name but a few.
"And this will be an area of focus for looking at improvements in the forthcoming year.
"We don't yet have the comparative information for other local authorities but it is generally understood that there is a wider societal increase in ill health figures.
"And it's important to remember that behind the headline numbers are our people - many of whom are experiencing challenging physical and mental health problems and the underlying causes for these can be complex and varied.
"So as we seek to reduce the incidence of sickness absence from work, it's important we acknowledge the human aspect as well as the loss of productivity that illness can bring."
Later on June 7, Corporate Human Resources manager Pauline Johnstone told PKC's Finance and Resources Committee absence figures were "slightly higher" to those before the pandemic.
The HR chief said: "That might be due to societal changes. Some people with colds, flus, underlying conditions as a result of the COVID pandemic and potential burnout - in terms of people working above and beyond during the pandemic and have little resistance left".
Cllr John Rebbeck suggested it might also be due to societal attitudes. The Perth City North SNP councillor said people no longer pushed through with the likes of a cold but instead took time off to avoid passing on illnesses.
He said: "I make this point humbly but it might be worth noting. I think it's about societal attitudes. I think pre-COVID when people had a sniffle or an ailment the social attitude was stiff upper lip - 'let's go into work and bash on'.
"But I think because that changed in COVID when you were actually meant to keep away from your work, I think there's a legacy of that now where people consider they don't want to pass their ailments on and therefore will work from home or be absent."
