Sickness Absence

About Sickness Absence

What Makes Employees Sick from Work?

Research show a clear association between several work environment factors and sickness absence.

Research from NFA show that employees who for example experience violence, threats, conflicts, or bullying daily or weekly at the workplace have a higher risk of sickness absence compared to employees who do not experience such negative behaviors. Likewise, employees who frequently work with their back twisted or bent, their arms above shoulder height, or kneel or squat have a significant increased risk for sickness absence compared to employees without these physical demands. In many cases, work-related accidents can lead directly to sickness absence, while it is often difficult to prove a direct link between chemical exposures in the workplace and sickness absence.

How can Work-Related Sickness Absence be Reduced?

Fortunately, it is possible to prevent much of the work-related sickness absence. NFA has developed several interventions that show a positive effect on both the work environment and sickness absence rates.

For example, an workplace intervention from NFA has shown that improving the ergonomic work environment of the pedagogical staff by qualifying the pedagogical core task of making the children in nurseries more self-reliant (e.g. to put on their own clothes and shoes) was effective to reduce sickness absence. Another example is NFA research showing that very short training exercises with elastic bands for the neck, shoulders and back during work hours with the colleagues is associated with reduced sickness absence.

It also seems that providing good development opportunities and clear roles at work may help mitigate the potential negative consequences of high emotional demands, such as those found in teaching and care work.