New Royal Decree on reintegration: towards fewer employees with a long-term illness and more employability

Preventing and reducing absenteeism in your organisation has always been a smart strategy. An investment that easily pays for itself. If you haven’t yet started working on this, now is the time to roll up your sleeves. Every organisation, large or small, will need to develop an ‘active absence policy’.

What exactly is an active absence policy?

An active absence policy describes how your organisation deals with employee absences. It sets out the actions required as soon as someone becomes ill or unfit for work, such as maintaining contact. This procedure must be included in the employment regulations.

It goes beyond written agreements; it’s an ‘active’ policy. By communicating these agreements clearly and regularly, employees know what to expect and managers are better prepared. The result is a predictable, respectful, and efficient process for returning to work.

Is this the same as the collective reintegration policy?

No. A collective reintegration policy describes how your organisation takes preventive measures at an organisational level to avoid employee absences from work (especially long-term). If long-term incapacity for work does occur, the policy outlines how employees can be supported in returning to work or reintegration. By mapping out in advance what opportunities your organisation has for alternative or modified work, you can respond quickly when reintegration is needed. An annual evaluation with the occupational physician ensures that the policy remains aligned with the needs of both your employees and your organisation.

These obligations form the basis for an overarching sustainable, positive absenteeism policy.

Our advice

Prevent absences, maintain contact during sick leave, and lower the threshold for returning to work for employees who have been away for a long time.

• Focus on prevention and avoid employee absenteeism. HR, managers, and prevention advisers all play a role in this. Regularly inform your employees that they can contact the person of trust, the occupational physician, or the psychosocial prevention adviser.

• Develop an active absence policy and keep in touch with absent employees. Informal conversations and check-ins are important to assess whether it makes sense to start a reintegration process. It is also advisable to regularly highlight the importance of the ‘pre-return-to-work’ visit.

• Map out the possibilities for modified work (collective reintegration policy). Adjust the work preventively if an employee is at risk of being absent from work.

• Request an assessment of work potential (see below) for an employee who has been at home for a long time (over 8 weeks) if it is unclear whether starting a reintegration process would be meaningful.

Tackle employability in three steps

Step 1 − Prevent employees from becoming absent from work

Prevention has always been important. But as an employer, you will now have more options to help prevent employees from becoming absent from work.

• Is an employee at risk of becoming absent from work soon? Then you can implement work adaptations without any prior assessment. Would you still like advice on preventing absenteeism? You can call on Mensura and consult your occupational physician or another prevention adviser.

• An employee can request an impromptu preventive consultation with the occupational physician. They can also turn to you as the employer, after which you can seek advice from Mensura.

Step 2 − Your employee is absent from work. Now what?

You cannot always prevent absence from work. If it does happen, quick and appropriate support is essential. The occupational physician will soon be able to exchange information with the treating physician more easily through a new platform. The employee’s approval is required for this.

• In the case of long-term absence, you as an employer may initiate either a formal or an informal reintegration process.

  To initiate a formal reintegration process, you need your employee's consent.

  Mensura recommends always beginning with an informal ‘pre-return-to-work visit’.

• After four weeks of absence: report your employee’s absence through MyMensura. This allows us to inform your employee about the available reintegration options.

• After eight weeks of absence: is your employee still able to work? You can determine this by having their work potential assessed by an occupational physician. If the employee still has work potential, you as the employer are obliged to start a formal or informal reintegration process as soon as possible. This must occur no later than six months after the start of the period of illness. So make sure to request the work potential assessment in good time.

• After one or more reintegration processes, is returning to work still not possible? Then you can request an assessment to determine whether your employee qualifies for permanent incapacity for work (dismissal due to medical force majeure). This will now be possible after 6 months of incapacity (instead of 9). Warning! This is a demanding procedure for both the employer and the employee. Investing in reintegra-tion is always the right choice.

Step 3 − Your employee returns to work

Yippee! Your employee has recovered sufficiently and can return to work, either fully or through modified work (for example, part-time work or a different role).

Several changes have been introduced regarding financial arrangements. You can read more about these – and other financial implications – below the box.

What are the financial implications of these new reintegration measures for you as an employer?

The measures to prevent absenteeism and promote reintegration go hand in hand with increasing the responsibility of all parties involved: employers, employees, health insurance funds, GPs, and others.

What are the implications for you as an employer?

• If an employee has work potential, but no reintegration process has been initiated after six months of incapacity, employers with 20 or more employees risk a financial penalty.

• Solidarity contribution: if you employ 50 or more people, you will pay – after the first month of a guaranteed wage – an additional two months of 30% of the sickness benefits for employees aged between 18 and 54.

• An employee must now have returned to work for 8 weeks (instead of 14 days) before you are obliged to pay a guaranteed wage again in case of relapse. The right to a guaranteed wage when becoming absent from work again after a partial return to work will be abolished.

That reintegration is becoming less optional is a positive development. For employees with a long-term illness, there may also be financial implications associated with reintegration.

Financial sanctions may place some employees in a difficult situation. This is yet another reason why striving for sustainable reintegration is essential. Only then is there a genuine win-win for your organisation.