Abstract
ObjectivesResearch has shown that individuals reporting a low level of adjustment latitude, defined as having few possibilities to temporarily adjust work demands to illness, have a higher risk of sick leave. To what extent lack of adjustment latitude influences the individual when making the decision to take sick leave is unknown. We hypothesize that ill individuals are more likely to take sick leave on days when they experience a lack of adjustment latitude at work than on days with access to adjustment latitude.MethodsA case-crossover design was applied to 546 sick-leave spells, extracted from a cohort of 1 430 employees at six Swedish workplaces, with a 3–12 month follow-up of all new sick-leave spells. Exposure to lack of adjustment latitude on the first sick-leave day was compared with exposure during several types of control periods sampled from the previous two months for the same individual.ResultsOnly 35% of the respondents reported variations in access to adjustment latitude, and 19% reported a constant lack of adjustment latitude during the two weeks prior to the sick-leave spell. Among those that did report variation, the risk of sick leave was lower on days with lack of adjustment latitude, than on days with access (Odds Ratio 0.36, 95% Confidence Interval 0.25–0.52).ConclusionsThis is the first study to show the influence of adjustment latitude on the decision to take sick leave. Among those with variations in exposure, lack of adjustment latitude was a deterrent of sick leave, which is contrary to the à priori hypothesis. These results indicate that adjustment latitude may not only capture long-lasting effects of a flexible working environment, but also temporary possibilities to adjust work to being absent. Further studies are needed to disentangle the causal mechanisms of adjustment latitude on sick-leave.
Highlights
Adjustment latitude is defined as the possibility to temporarily adjust one’s work demands to the loss of function due to illness or disease [1,2]
A low general level of adjustment latitude, measured once and considered stable over time, has been associated with sick leave in a cohort study based on the same research project as the present study and in two other studies [1,2,3]
Previous studies suggest that many individuals experience variations in access to adjustment latitude, [2,3,6] but the time interval between exposure and outcome has not been considered when analyzing the association between adjustment latitude and sick leave [1,2,3]
Summary
Adjustment latitude is defined as the possibility to temporarily adjust one’s work demands to the loss of function due to illness or disease [1,2]. Previous studies suggest that many individuals experience variations in access to adjustment latitude, [2,3,6] but the time interval between exposure and outcome has not been considered when analyzing the association between adjustment latitude and sick leave [1,2,3]. The hypothesis in this study is that ill individuals are more likely to take sick leave on days when they experience a lack of adjustment latitude at work, than on days with access to adjustment latitude.
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