University noted in national sick leave statistics

“Of course, it's not fun that we're at the top in this, but I'm not worried. Although I cannot say exactly what it is that makes our number higher than that of other higher education institutions, I do not think that we are actually more sick than others. We have a good system for reporting illness and our view is that our employees call in sick when they are sick, which is actually a positive. We are also aware that we have some long-term sick leave at the university at the moment, which we take seriously.

From HR's side, we work actively with the university's managers on issues relating to sick leave. We have clear sick leave and rehabilitation processes and follow up on sick leave jointly with the managers twice a year. Our managers also work closely with their employees, both in preventive and rehabilitation issues. One thing that is also worth considering is that we have significantly fewer employees than larger higher education institutions, which means that, for example, long-term sick leave can affect our statistics to a greater degree.”

Higher education institutions have a low overall rate of sick leave absence compared to the labour market as a whole.

”We will continue our active work with sick leave and supporting managers. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out the importance of all employees actually continuing to call in sick when they are sick.”

Read more

Read the article "Sick leave on decline within academia" in Universitetsläraren.