To facilitate a return to work after sick leave, you as an employer should have a regular dialogue with your employees to identify if anyone has an impaired ability to perform their work, even if the reason for the sick leave occurred outside the workplace. There should also be procedures for how you receive information about the need for work adaptation, and how you should then act. These procedures should be known by everyone in the workplace.

Have any of your employees been on sick leave?

In cases where one of your employees has a reduced ability to perform their job after a period of sick leave, work adaptation may be required. This is an individual measure that the employer can take in the physical, organisational or social work environment. Work adaptation can be either limited term or permanent.

It could for example be

• changed working hours
• adaptation of work tasks
• use of work aids
• social support
• special work instructions
• personalised protective equipment.

However, not every workplace and task can always be adapted in the desired way, depending on the conditions of the business, but regardless, as an employer, you must always start by investigating what is possible to implement.

Incidents and work-related injuries must be reported

If any of your employees have been injured at your workplace, you need to report this, both to us and to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. This applies both to injuries and to events that could have led to an accident – what is called an incident.

Support for you as an employer

Both employers and employees may need support in work adaptation. In addition to the information available on our website on how to work on the work environment, there is also other help available to employers. There are support and financial contributions to prevent sick leave or facilitate the return to work.

Occupational health service

The primary task of the occupational health service is to remove or reduce risks in the work environment. If you as an employer do not have sufficient time or knowledge to manage risks in the workplace, an occupational health service can be hired. The help then becomes a complement to your own work environment management.

Försäkringskassan, the Social Insurance Agency

As an employer, you can also receive grants for workplace-oriented initiatives that make it easier for your employees to return to work after sick leave. For example, you can receive support in establishing a plan for returning to work.

The Swedish Public Employment Service

Employers can also receive a financial contribution from the Swedish Public Employment Service for assistive devices, if you have employees who have reduced working capacity due to a disability or ill health. The assistive device should compensate for the reduction in working capacity and make it easier for the person to get or keep a job. The Swedish Public Employment Service assesses what support is relevant. However, you cannot receive grants for aids or adaptations that are normally needed in the business or that are required for the work environment to meet the requirements of the Work Environment Act.