Activating Employers and Medical Professionals

Employers are key players in preventing health problems at work and facilitating a swift return to work for people absent from work due to sickness. This chapter sets out examples of good practice across the OECD to provide an effective combination of responsibilities and supports for employers, including stronger financial incentives to retain workers. It also seeks answers to the question how to provide a balanced policy package so to promote employment of people with health problems or disability through both job retention and new recruitment. Finally it also addresses the key role general practitioners are playing in the early phase of a sickness absence and ways to strengthen the employment orientation of doctors’ sick-listing practices.