Keeping older workers healthy and productive is a key policy goal. Ill-health is a key driver of labour market turnover; in 2019 20% of workers aged 35‑44 left their job voluntarily because of poor health, compared to 25% of workers aged 50‑64. In addition to premature labour market exit, health problems are also a key cause of sickness absence and presenteeism which if left untreated can have detrimental consequences for employees, employers and governments because of lost productivity and lower employee retention. On average, in 2019 the sickness absence rate was 1.3% among young workers, 2% among prime aged workers, and 3.2% among mature workers. Many large employers have put in place workplace health and wellbeing programmes but evidence suggests to be effective they must take a comprehensive and integrated approach to improve health and business outcomes. To support small and medium enterprise (SMEs), governments and social partners are strengthening occupational health services, as in the United Kingdom, developing national accreditation for health and well-being providers, and by creating certified recognition programmes for employers, as in Japan. Subsidies to encourage employers to invest in workplace health and well-being have also gained importance in recent years.
Policies aimed at preventing avoidable long-term sickness need to start early in life, for example by preventing obesity, smoking and harmful use of alcohol. Later in life, prevention campaigns in conjunction with government and employer policies such as paid sick leave can play a key role in supporting the recovering from ill-health and thus retention. Most OECD countries have a combination of employer-paid sick leave and sickness benefits for workers on sickness absence, except Japan and the United States. Evidence from Switzerland and the Netherlands shows that stronger employer-paid sick leave can provide greater employer incentives to prevent ill-health, support rehabilitation and return-to-work. Gradual return to work schemes following illness, as in Germany, can also be a win-win allowing workers to return sooner while preventing the loss of skills and experience. Similarly, making accommodations for workers with health conditions, such as changes to the physical working environment, working time arrangements, or workplace responsibilities, can play an important role in allowing workers with health issues to continue to work. In most OECD countries, employers are obliged to make adjustments for workers with disabilities, but this does not usually extend to workers experiencing sickness, illness or injury. In addition, more needs to be done to empower line managers to effectively manage sickness at the workplace.
Last but not least, spurred on by the rise in telework amidst the COVID‑19 crisis, governments have initiated measures to deal with possible negative mental health impacts of the digital transformation of the workplace. For example France, Greece Italy, Luxembourg, the Slovak Republic and Spain, now have legislation in place giving workers the right to digitally disconnect.