Comparison of sickness absence in Belgian, German, and Dutch firms.

International comparisons of sickness absence rates are difficult to make because of different national social security arrangements or recording procedures. Therefore a cross national study of sickness absence in Belgium, West Germany, and the Netherlands focused firstly on "contextual" aspects of sickness absence such as work incapacity benefit schemes, job security regulations, and the role of occupational physicians. Substantial differences were observed in regulations, local definitions, and available data. Those differences provide hypotheses for possibly divergent absence levels as well... Mehr ...