Illness & Absence

ORDINARY: SCENARIO 1

Guidelines
Give Steel is a workplace where we are open about illness and absence in general and its consequences. In addition, we want there to be measures in place to prevent illness and absence in general. If an employee has already fallen ill, we do our best to try and prevent further absence due to illness. Give Steel is a workplace where managers, employees, health and safety representatives and union representatives work together to find solutions to retain our employees in the workplace. We quickly follow up on illness and absence and have close contact with employees who are off sick for the entire duration of their time off sick.

The main purpose of these guidelines for illness and absence is:

• To prevent illness and limit the duration of any absence from the workplace
• To offer concrete suggestions for active measures
• To support a positive culture of management and collaboration
• To work strategically with illness and absence.

Give Steel aims for the least possible amount of illness and absence and the greatest possible presence and well-being in the workplace. Therefore, we commit ourselves to:

• Being open when talking about illness
• Contact an employee who is off sick as soon as possible and to maintain a close contact and follow-up on their time off sick

EXTRAORDINARY: SCENARIO 2

Critical illness
In the event of critical illness, it is the responsibility of the individual employee or their relatives to contact PFA (salaried employees) and Industriens Pension (hourly paid) and give notification of this.

Our critical illness insurance cover is part of our pension scheme with PFA, and a tax-free payment could therefore be paid out to the employee.

Stress management
Stress is one of the most common causes of long-term absence and has a serious human cost. Stress affects the individual but is an issue that must be dealt with as a joint responsibility in collaboration with the company.
Stress reactions can be both mental and physical symptoms. Be aware of any signs of stress you may be showing, but also of any signs you may notice among your immediate colleagues.

Contact your manager in time so that we can jointly solve the problem before it develops into time off sick.

The health scheme with PFA also offers the option of stress management support from a psychologist/stress coach (salaried employees).

Care interview
The length, frequency and pattern of sick leave may give rise to a direct dialogue between employee and manager about the sick leave. The purpose of this interview is to discuss the various options for getting the employee back to their job. The manager must therefore conduct a care interview to clarify what can be done to reduce sick leave if:

• The employee has been off sick three times over a six-month period or
• The total number of sick days is 10 or more, measured in calendar days over a six-month period

The manager will always be responsible for making an assessment of whether the care interview is necessary. The employee has a duty to attend the interview in person unless their illness or other circumstances make attendance impossible. If this is the case, the interview can be conducted at another location or over the phone, if possible.

Retention plan
An employee on sick leave may request the drawing up of a retention plan if they expect more than eight weeks to elapse before work can be resumed. This is stated in section 7b of the Sickness Benefits Act.

If the employer considers that a retention plan should not be drawn up, the employer may reject the request.

The purpose of a retention plan is to ensure that the employee returns to work as soon as possible, taking into account the employee’s illness. The plan gives employee and employer the opportunity to enter into dialogue and gauge expectations and establish a sense of security about the employee’s future at the company.

The employee and the employer prepare the retention plan together. This can, for example, take place in connection with the employee’s sick interview with the employer, which must be conducted no later than four weeks after the first day of illness.

Communication to other employees at the workplace
In the event of critical or long-term illness, we encourage that an announcement should be made about the person on sick leave to their Give Steel colleagues. The employee’s immediate manager is responsible for informing the other employees, in consultation with the person who is off sick. This also applies if an employee’s close relative is affected by a critical or life-threatening illness.

Allocation of responsibilities – who is responsible for what?
We cannot prevent illness from occurring, but we can all accept a shared responsibility and contribute to establishing well-being and encourage each other to work together until the employee on sick leave has returned to work. The following is a brief description of who holds responsibility in this regard:

• The manager
• The employee
• The shop steward

The manager’s responsibilities in connection with illness and absence

• Accepts the notice of sick leave unless otherwise agreed.
• Good and frequent contact with the person who is off sick.
• Convenes, holds and documents the care interview with the person who is off sick.
• Convenes, holds and documents the follow-up interview in the event of continued sick leave.

The employee’s responsibilities in connection with illness and absence

• Contribute to their own recovery, maintain contact with us – which is very important – and/or only be on sick leave for part of their working time.
• Positive approach to their work.
• Attend a care interview if asked