According to the working time survey carried out by the Confederation of Finnish Industries the member companies had in Finland on average 12 days of sick leave per employee due to sickness and accident during 2007. The sickness percentage was 4.6% which represents the share of sickness and accident related absence from the theoretical full working time. The highest number of sick leave was found in the industrial companies where the sickness percentage was 6.7 %. Of this number 6.3 was due to illness and only 0.4 due to accidents. Industrial clerical employees’ absence rate was 2.0 % and service employees 4.4 %. The highest single branch within the industrial companies was the food industry where the average sickness and accident related absence was 18 days. The corresponding figure in the pulp and paper industry was 17 days.
During recent years, sickness and accident related absences have been on the rise. During the last 15 years these absences have increased steadily since the recession of the early 90's. In the service branch the increase has been more moderate, but even there the 21st century has shown more increase than in the 1990's.
In the working time survey carried out by the Confederation of Finnish Industries it is stated that companies must compensate for this loss of working time by reorganising the employment relationships and working times as well as utilising temporary replacements.
It is especially important to find out not only the amount and distribution of sick leave but also the reasons behind them. In addition the affects on productivity and quality needs be defined. The opportunities for rehabilitation, occupational safety actions and occupational health care level need to be mapped.
You need all the employees at the work place
More and more companies want to secure fast health care services for their employees, but how to arrange this in practice? Fast health care is an important issue and the long waiting lines to the public hospitals are not helping. The National Pension Company, insurance companies, citizens and private companies are paying for the waiting time, when all resources should be directed to real measures.
The costs of sick leave including the consequential losses are on average €300 for the employer, so it is a significant amount of money. Therefore all actions that take matters into the right direction are important. Consequential losses include hiring a substitute and keeping "extra" workers on the payroll, just to cover the sick leave.
Health insurance brings added value also when competing for the best workers. More and more companies are including the whole personnel in the health insurance, not only key personnel; at the workplace you need everybody.
The number of employees covered by health insurance is increasing by 20% each year. At the beginning of 2008 more than 12.000 employees in Finland were covered by health insurance.
If's health insurance for Personnel in Finland
If's health insurance is a sensible way to prepare for sick leave, which are caused by free-time accidents and illnesses and the subsequent the direct medical costs, which would otherwise be borne by the patient. With If's health insurance the employee can very quickly get to a doctor and even swiftly undergo surgery and then back to work. If's medical partner network includes all national medical providers as well as many local medical providers. With If's medical partner network If can give a treatment guarantee:
Doctors appointment in 1-2 days Comprehensive medical examinations in 1 week (e.g. MRI) Operations in 1-2 weeks
Seeing a doctor and claiming the costs from If, has been made very smooth. If has four different service models for different customer needs. All service models are made very simple and straight forward for the employee to use.
In addition the service models can tailor the insurance coverage to be compatible with the occupational health care services. The insurance premium can be budgeted and is a tax deduction for the company. Motivation and commitment
The voluntary insurance product that is complementary to the statutory social insurance and healthcare often motivates an employee more than for example a raise in salary. To the employee this insurance benefit is of a monetary value, covering costs from getting sick that otherwise would have been borne by the employee. Faster access to medical treatment also improves quality of life, because long waiting times often exhaust persons mentally as well as bodily.
Personnel, with their knowledge and skills are an expensive capital of the company. Recruiting and committing personnel are matters that companies should put effort into. We need new ways to commit and reward skilful personnel. The competition for personnel is getting tougher all the time companies need to find attractions that employees really value.
Creating a good working atmosphere health insurance that connects all employees can have an important role. Every skilful employee's effort is important.
A sick mechanic must be taken to a doctor quickly, because skilful, educated personnel can not be replaced just like that. Quick access to medical care also speeds up recovery.
Recruitment, motivation and commitment benefits as well as reduced sick leave means a real advantage for the company in the market.
Claims example from health insurance
While climbing the stairs at work, a 46 year old man hurt his knee. When pushing up on the stairs his left foot slipped and he twisted his left knee. After the strain had healed there remained a weak feeling in the knee when walking. Earlier the knee had felt normal.
During the doctor’s examination some slight swelling was discovered as well as pain symptoms in the mensicus. In the x-rays no findings supporting accident were found.
Due to the remaining pain and feeling of weakness, the injured person has requested a payment guarantee for MRI from worker's compensation insurance two months after the accident. His work requires physical strength and he has not been able to work since the accident.
Worker's compensation covers the strain and all costs related to that. According to the description of the accident it is not a case of high-energy injury mechanism. Due to this reason the MRI is not covered from the worker's compensation insurance.
The employer has provided all employees with If's health cover. Because the left knee has been without symptoms before the accident and the health insurance was in force at the time of the accident, the payment guarantee request is automatically handled from the health cover.
Because the injury is still causing pain, If will give the payment guarantee to a private hospital for a MRI to the left knee. In the MRI a horizontal rupture in the meniscus and incipient arthrosis was discovered. These findings are not consistent with the injury mechanism, so they are not covered from worker's compensation, but they are covered by the health insurance. Health insurance covers both the medical examinations as well as the possible treatments of these ailments.
The meniscus of the knee was operated with a kneehole surgery two weeks after the MRI. Six weeks after the surgery the worker returned to work.
The benefits for the employer and employee?
With the health insurance for personnel it is possible to have fast access to both medical surveys as well as operations in private hospitals. This will provide for faster return to work. The waiting times for medical surveys and operations in the public hospitals can be quite long. In cases where the injury/ sickness is categorized as "not urgent" the waiting time varies from between 1-6 months. With If's health insurance for personnel the waiting time for If's medical provider network partner is from a few days up to two weeks.
Minna Vilkki, Rami Urho and Ulla Rokkila-Heinonen
