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

To estimate the reduction in sickness absence associated with simulated improvements in influence at work (employees' ability to influence how and when work tasks are performed) among young Danish employees.

We used register data from the Danish Work Life Course Cohort, which included 301,185 individuals aged 15-30 who entered the labor market between 2010 and 2018 (mean follow-up: 2.6 years). Annual influence at work was assessed using a job-exposure matrix, which assigned an average level of influence based on job title. Inspired by the parametric g-formula, we used Poisson regression to predict sickness absence days under a simulated scenario in which the influence increased by one standard deviation.

Higher influence was associated with fewer days of sickness absence (rate ratio per one-point increase, range 1-5: 0.71, 95% CI 0.66-0.77). Simulating a standard deviation increase in influence corresponded to a reduction of 0.16 days of sickness absence per person annually, which is equivalent to an estimated reduction of 126,400 (3%) days during the follow-up period. The largest reductions were observed in care work and education.

Simulated improvements in influence at work may lead to meaningful reductions in sickness absence among young employees.