Exploring the Role of Sickness Absence Coordinators in Implementing Interventions to Reduce Sickness Absence in Public Sector Workplaces in Denmark.
Lene Rasmussen, Maj Britt Dahl Nielsen, Anne Helene Garde and 1 others
PMID 38519778WHAT IT FOUND
Sickness absence coordinators struggled to gain line manager buy-in because managers viewed them as outsiders and lacked time for new tasks.
Internal placement and top management endorsement were identified as critical for the role's success.
Key findings
01Line managers resisted the coordinators because they were often hired externally and perceived as consultants interfering with established routines.
02Coordinators faced challenges in understanding local work realities because they were organizationally anchored in HR and physically distant from the work units.
03Lack of line manager engagement was attributed to competing priorities in daily operations and insufficient commitment from top management.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study included only four participants from a specific Danish government initiative, limiting transferability to other contexts. Data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which likely influenced line managers' availability and engagement levels. The findings reflect only the coordinators' perspectives; line managers' views were not directly assessed. Workplaces were selected from a funded initiative, so results may not apply to workplaces without such structured support.
Declared interests
Funded by The National Research Centre for the Working Environment and The National Agency for Labor Market and Recruitment.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that sickness absence coordinators reduce absence rates. The study explores implementation challenges and perceptions, not clinical or economic outcomes.