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- Getting advise
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Petri Heinonen needs help to get fit again, and gets training advise from physiotherapist Riitta Mansikkaniemi.
- Economic downturn changes the picture
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Research shows the level of sick leave among Finland's municipal workers rose until 2005, but it has fallen ever since. All eyes are now on the release of last year's figures from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
Many municipalities made people redundant last year, and people who have retired have not been replaced because of the financial crisis. Meanwhile a large municipal reform programme has seen the merging of many municipalities, and this has created uncertainty among workers even though they have been given a five year employment guarantee. All this will inevitably start to show somewhere.
Bjarne Andersson at the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities has been sceptical for some time."We wondered why the general picture seemed to be so very positive while the economic downturn had hit also us. But it was said that the crisis needn't necessarily impact on employees' view of their own role in the labour market."
Andersson says the capital Helsinki is a good example of how to handle sick leave. Yet smaller municipalities with fewer resources might find it harder to adapt, facing a reality where occupational health care functions mainly on a GP level. A lot can still be improved, says Andersson.
- Occupational health care awaits reform
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By the end of January, two working groups should be presenting their plans for how the Finnish can be helped to stay longer in working life. There is an aim to increase the retirement age by three years by 2025. Despite the current retirement age of 63, most people retire before they are 60.
The two working groups comprise representatives from trade unions, employers and the state. One group looks at ways of increasing the retirement age, the other will examine ways to make people work for longer. The working groups have so far failed to agree, and if they can't the government will eventually take the reins.
The hardest task is to increase the retirement age. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen ran into opposition earlier when his government tried to force through a bill increasing it to 65 years.
Occupational health care will take on a more preventative role and co-ordinate its work to better fit in with the pension system and state health insurance. There might also be measures aimed at shortening university course times, and to help young people who fall outside the labour market soon after finishing secondary school finding their place in society.
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Work Research Institute
OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University,
Postboks 4 St. Olavs plass, NO-0130 Oslo
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