Characteristics of chronic sickness absence

The longer an employee remains absent from work due to health problems, the less likely he will return to work successfully. Knowledge of absence characteristics is necessary for a supported reintegration policy. Absence episodes (from 1 month up till 12 months), registered between 2013 and 2015 by Group IDEWE and Acerta, were analyzed for the following parameters: duration (focus on more chronic absence longer than 3 months), nature of the disease, nature of the job, age and gender of the employee. The proportion of chronic absence (from 3 months up till 1 year) within the analyzed episodes was respectively 38.9% (IDEWE figures) and 21.1% (Acerta figures). Chronic absenteeism was 2% higher in women than in men and increased with age. Differences between sectors were limited. Nevertheless, the highest prevalence was found in the services sector, followed by catering and transport sectors. More than 2/3 of the absence episodes due to cancer took longer than three months; for mental disorders, this was more than half, followed by diseases of the heart and vessels (40%). To conclude, the prevalence of chronic absenteeism increased with age and was higher in women, cancer and mental disorders. Early support can help workers to return to work.

Jaar van publicatie:2017