Affiliations: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of
Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden | Department of Medical Health Sciences, Linkopings
University, Linkoping, Sweden | Department of Psychology, School of Sustainable
Development of Society and Technology, Mälardalen University,
Gåsmyrevreten, Västerås, Sweden
Note: [] Corresponding author: Ulrich Stoetzer, Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska
Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 8 524 877 98; E-mail: ulrich.stoetzer@ki.se
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The aim of this qualitative study was to identify
manageable organizational factors that could explain why some companies have
low levels of sickness absence. There may be factors at company level that can
be managed to influence levels of sickness absence, and promote health and a
prosperous organization. PARTICIPANTS: 38 representative Swedish companies. METHODS: The study included a total of 204 semi-structured
interviews at 38 representative Swedish companies. Qualitative thematic
analysis was applied to the interviews, primarily with managers, to indicate
the organizational factors that characterize companies with low levels of
sickness absence. RESULTS: The factors that were found to characterize
companies with low levels of sickness absence concerned strategies and
procedures for managing leadership, employee development, communication,
employee participation and involvement, corporate values and visions, and
employee health. CONCLUSIONS: The results may be useful in finding
strategies and procedures to reduce levels of sickness absence and promote
health. There is research at individual level on the reasons for sickness
absence. This study tries to elevate the issue to an organizational level. The
findings suggest that explicit strategies for managing certain organizational
factors can reduce sickness absence and help companies to develop more
health-promoting strategies.
Keywords: Occupational health, health promotion, organizational factors, sickness absence
