Absence Management

Approach

The starting point is a clear mandate from senior management and the recording of absences by cause (illness, occupational and non-occupational accident), duration and organisational unit. Suva recommends six steps: define foundations and responsibilities, collect and analyse key figures, define interventions for absences, train line managers, inform employees and plan prevention. Core indicators are the absence rate (days lost relative to scheduled days), frequency per employee, average duration and the share of short-, medium- and long-term absences; industry benchmarking reveals the need for action. Interventions follow a graduated scheme: contact from day one, a return-to-work interview after every absence, structured interviews when absences accumulate and, from around 30 days, involvement of case management, the daily sickness allowance or UVG insurer and – where there is a risk of permanent incapacity – notification for early detection to the disability insurance office under Art. 3a et seq. IVG. Compasso provides employers with the resource-oriented reintegration profile (REP) and guidelines for this purpose.

Success Factors

Absence management works only as a leadership task: supervisors must be able to hold conversations without asking for diagnoses and must observe data protection law – health data are sensitive personal data. Reintegration succeeds most often with partial work capacity, adapted tasks and binding graduated plans in which employer, treating physician, insurer and disability insurance office cooperate in a coordinated way. Corporate health management measures complement this by addressing the causes, in particular mental strain, which accounts for the largest share of long-term absences. In Germany § 167 para. 2 SGB IX obliges employers to conduct occupational reintegration management (BEM) once employees have been incapacitated for more than six weeks within twelve months; in Austria the fit2work programme offers comparable support.

Insurance Relevance

Absences are the direct claims driver of daily sickness allowance and UVG insurance. Group daily sickness allowance contracts are experience-rated: a high loss ratio leads at renewal to premium increases, longer waiting periods or termination. Documented absence management with falling indicators improves the negotiating position, unlocks insurers’ prevention contributions and case management services, and reduces the indirect costs of replacement staff and lost productivity, which usually exceed the insurance benefit several times over.