Sickness absence, doctors’ appointments and wellbeing of school employees and other municipalities’ employees in the wake of the bank collapse

Abstract

The article analyses sickness, sickness absence and doctors’ appointments of employees in elementary schools, music schools and kindergartens in comparison to other municipality employees in Iceland in the wake of the bank crash in 2008. While recent studies show insecurity and lack of well-being among those who unwillingly lose their job, this study focuses on the sickness and sickness absence of the survivors; those who were not laid off in the wake of the economic crisis. Very few sociological studies have focused on job insecurity and lack of well-being among employees who have seen downsizing in their own workplaces, without being laid off themselves. Studies of the effect of downsizing on remaining employees show that it has a considerable negative effect on their physical and mental well-being, especially those who work in downsized departments.
We ask: Did sickness, sickness absence and medical appointment change among school employees and other employees in Icelandic municipalities in the wake of the bank collapse in 2008? Do issues like layoffs, age, gender, marital status and type of work matter in relation to sickness, sickness absence and medical appointment? Are there any differences in sickness behaviour between school employees and other employees of the municipalities?
The study is based on a balanced panel dataset from 2971 employees of 20 municipalities, at three points in time; 2010, 2011 and 2013. The response rate was between 64.5% and 84.4%. Significance was measured with Cochran’s Q test and the chi-square test. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to evaluate the impact of laying off employees, gender, age, marital status and type of work, on sickness and sickness absence among the remaining employees over time.
The main findings are that the number of employees who reported sickness absence increased between the time points of the study, along with an increased number of sick days per participant. The panel study shows that increased sickness absence holds for both downsized workplaces and workplaces where no downsizing occurred. It increased, however, more in workplaces where employees had been laid off. Layoffs, lack of well-being and sickness absence increased more between the first and the second time points of the study than between the second and the third time points. Despite increased sick absence, our study shows that as time went on, an increasing number of employees went to work even when they were sick. Interestingly, sickness absence was more common among younger employees than among older ones. It was also more common among women than men. No big differences were in sickness behaviour among school employees compared to other employees of the municipalities.
This is the first study on sickness and sickness absence among employees working in Icelandic municipalities since the economic collapse in 2008. The strength of the study is that it addresses a debate that has been neglected as studies on downsizing and the economic crisis tend to focus on those who lose their jobs, rather than on the survivors. Another strongpoint is that the study is based on longitudinal balanced panel data, whereas most studies on sickness are based on cross sectional quantitative data. Even though longitudinal data are valuable, it can certainly be seen as a weakness that the baseline of the quantitative data refers to a time after the collapse of the banks, so there is no comparison with a previous time. Fortunately, however, economic collapse is neither common nor predictable, so it is hard to plan longitudinal research before it happens.
The results are of practical relevance, as most Western countries periodically go through economic crises, generally followed by downsizing of some workplaces. In addition, downsizing and reorganization of workplaces might have similar effects, independently of economic crises. It is important for school administrators, occupational therapists and researchers to keep this in mind.