Sickness absence and Presenteeism Predictor Future Work Disability

There have been numerous studies over the years that looked at casual and incidental absenteeism as a predictor of future absence, leave and disability episodes. Employers should have a robust, real time absence management strategy in place as a best practice, this supports early intervention. In this recent study published in Preventive Medicine, Danish healthcare workers were followed for 11 years, and 12% eventually received a disability pension. Given the stressors that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on the healthcare workers, this is a significant burden. The authors note that the highest risk for disability pension was observed for the category of >30 days of combined sickness absence and presenteeism at baseline in the fully adjusted model (HR = 7.93 [95%CI 5.20–12.09]). These results suggest that workplaces would benefit from identifying early warning signs among workers in the prevention of involuntary early retirement.