Increased support reduced sick leave in Lund Municipality
Good examples
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Can sick leave be reduced by 36 percent in an organization with 500 managers and 11,000 employees in just one year? We spoke with Susanne Pennsäter at Lund Municipality, who was involved in initiating a project that achieved just that.
Susanne Pennsäter and Christin Lindblom are both strategists in rehabilitation and health. Over 1.5 years, they managed to initiate, implement, and evaluate a completely new initiative in Lund Municipality. The initiative targets both managers and employees with the goal of reducing repeated short-term sick leave—and the effort has proven to be effective.
Short-term absence sparked a new initiative
In 2022, the municipality received new data on how often employees called in sick. The data showed that some employees were absent at least six times a year, often significantly more. Susanne and Christin then actively approached the municipality's managers and asked what support and help they needed regarding sick leave.
"It emerged that many managers found recurring sick leave challenging. Those who contacted their employees and had care conversations felt that they then had no support to offer," Susanne explains.
This led Susanne and Christin to plan a comprehensive effort aimed at both managers and employees, two components they came to call manager guidance and health intervention.
The most dangerous thing a manager can do when an employee has frequent absences is to start speculating about the reasons behind it.
Halved sick leave after three months
With the help of a rehabilitation coordinator from Falck, they planned a health assessment with a complementary alcohol and drug test to ensure that the employee would be offered the right treatment. When the initiative started, 42 employees were enrolled.
"When we began the health intervention, the rehabilitation coordinator took on a significant responsibility to identify the underlying issues behind the sick leave. She then helped refer employees to the appropriate professionals, such as physiotherapists, psychologists, or doctors.
After the assessment, the rehabilitation coordinator compiled the results and sat down with the employee and the manager to discuss their findings. Both the employee and the manager then gained a clear understanding of the issues causing the sick leave.
"The most dangerous thing a manager can do when an employee has frequent absences is to start speculating about the reasons behind it. We needed facts to be able to help, and sometimes the employee needs to clarify the facts—what is causing me to be absent so often?"
Susanne also pointed out that it might become apparent that the employee needs to be away from work for various reasons. With the help of the assessment, the manager would then be informed and could implement workplace adjustments or offer the employee other types of support.
"The more systematic and comprehensive your approach, the better the results. We have been able to evaluate 17 of the participants who have completed the health intervention. Three months after completing the health intervention, their combined sick days have more than halved," says Susanne.
Opportunity for Managers to Reflect and Discuss
Parallel to the employee initiative, managers with teams experiencing high short-term absenteeism could participate in manager guidance sessions. The guidance was led by Henrik Lindgren, a psychologist at Falck, and consisted of three groups with 6–8 managers in each group, meeting over ten sessions.
During the guidance sessions, managers had the opportunity to bring up questions and concerns related to short-term absenteeism that they wanted to discuss and reflect on. This could involve general issues of short-term absenteeism, whether the absenteeism was due to conflicts within the team, and how best to handle such situations as a manager. It could also involve creating an environment that normalizes discussions about illness, as there is often shame and guilt associated with it.
"The guidance was largely about providing knowledge, tips, and tricks on how to influence your employees. We discussed, among other things, the obligations and rights from an employer's perspective and when it is appropriate to set demands or simply show care. And how to set demands with care," Henrik explains.
At the final session, the managers' superiors were invited for a discussion to highlight organizational aspects and enable change at a higher level.
The most important factor, known to be the most effective, is to address the issue as early as possible.
Managers Began to Act and Test New Methods
When Susanne and Christin reviewed the results of the guidance sessions, they were able to follow up with ten managers so far. In their teams, sick leave was reduced by 48 percent. Henrik believes that the success of these results is largely due to the process of the guidance sessions.
"We met regularly in groups over several sessions. This gave managers a good opportunity to build relationships with each other, which facilitates good collaboration. During the guidance sessions, we had time to discuss, give each other tips and advice, build trust, test new methods, and follow up on the outcomes," Henrik explains and continues;
"The most important factor, known to be the most effective, is to address the issue as early as possible. Start talking with the employee and try to understand the situation and the root cause of the absenteeism. All managers have done this during and after the guidance sessions."
Together, the manager guidance and health intervention have reduced short-term absenteeism by 36 percent across the entire municipality.
"Now it's about getting the information about these initiatives out to all the municipality's managers to increase participation. We now have a tool that works very well and can support our employees and managers. We should do everything we can to ensure it is used," says Susanne.
Tips to reduce repeated short-term absences
1. Contact employees Talk to your employee and check in on how they are feeling and create an understanding of the problem. Make sure to address it as early as possible.
2. Maintain regular contact Schedule contact with your employee. It takes time to build trust. The first thing the employee tells you is not necessarily what is most important.
3. Clarify the process Explain the rehab process to the employee and tell them what different paths and outcomes there are. It should be clear and unambiguous.
