Colds, flu, stomach problems, or headaches.
In the autumn, sickness reports usually increase. But this time, the sickness rates have been relatively low so far. However, there are significant differences when it comes to managers and employees.
Just over 13 percent of employees were on short-term sick leave at some point in September.
For managers, the corresponding figure was 4 percent.
Since the difference was so large, we wanted to investigate this further. So we asked in-depth questions to managers, says Lena-Karin Allinger, psychologist and organizational consultant at Falck.
Hard to disconnect
It turned out that managers to a high extent simply do not report sick leave but instead work from home.
We can see that over 50 percent of managers report being available and working even when they are sick, says Allinger.
She points to a digital world where the possibilities for a flexible work life have increased. At the same time, it can be difficult to disconnect from work – even though the working day has actually ended.
Not least for managers who usually have trust-based working hours.
We know from before that managers today experience a high workload with demands from both above and below. And that there is pressure to always be reachable.
"Must discuss boundaries"
According to Allinger, many managers lack support structures in their working life. Previous studies also show that managers are more stressed and drink more alcohol than employees.
Signals that need to be taken seriously.
Managers' working environment is often overlooked. But working life is long, and if we are to cope, we must discuss boundaries and expectations. We need to do this regardless of whether it concerns managers or employees, says Lena-Karin Allinger.
The statistics come from Falck Sjuk & Frisk and cover 148,000 employees at 420 different companies across the country. Of these, approximately 12,000 are managers, of whom 100 have received in-depth questions about their sick leave.
The five most common reasons for absence in the past month are colds, caring for children, headaches/dizziness, flu, and stomach problems.
Source: Falck.
