Sickness absence in workplaces: Does it reflect a healthy hire effect?

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Workplace Absenteeism Research
• Human Resources Management

Background:

• Sickness absence can indicate working conditions or hiring practices.
• The
• healthy hire effect
• describes differential recruitment of individuals with sickness absence history.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between recruits' sickness absence history and average workplace sickness absence levels.

Main Methods:

• A register-based follow-up study of approximately 127,000 Swedish workplaces and 3.9 million employees.
• Workplaces categorized by average sickness absence in 2006; recruits by individual sickness absence in 2005.

Main Results:

• High sickness absence workplaces were significantly more likely to hire individuals with high prior sickness absence.
• Odds ratios: men 7.2 (CI: 6.6-7.8), women 7.5 (CI: 6.9-8.1).

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest a
• healthy hire effect
• may contribute to observed sickness absence patterns in workplaces.