Simulated Improvements in Influence at Work and Reduction in Sickness Absence Among Young Employees: A Nationwide...

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Sickness absence is a significant concern in the workforce, particularly among young employees.
• Employee influence at work, defined as the ability to control how and when tasks are performed, is a potential factor affecting well-being and absence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the potential reduction in sickness absence days by simulating improvements in employee influence at work.
• To assess this impact among young Danish employees entering the labor market.

Main Methods:

• Utilized register data from the Danish Work Life Course Cohort (301,185 individuals aged 15-30).
• Assessed annual influence at work using a job-exposure matrix based on job titles.
• Employed Poisson regression, inspired by the parametric g-formula, to model sickness absence under simulated influence increases.

Main Results:

• Higher workplace influence was significantly associated with fewer sickness absence days (Rate Ratio: 0.71).
• A simulated one standard deviation increase in influence predicted a reduction of 0.16 sickness absence days per person annually.
• This equates to an estimated total reduction of 126,400 days (3%) over the follow-up period, with notable reductions in care and education sectors.

Conclusions:

• Enhancing employee influence at work presents a viable strategy for reducing sickness absence among young workers.
• The findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing employee autonomy and control could yield substantial public health benefits.