New requirements for the psychosocial work environment: Why dialogue matters more than ever
Eirin Eriksen Horvei
October 14, 2026
Sickness absence is serious and resource-intensive for the individual employee, the organisation and not least colleagues. How can you as a manager work preventively, using dialogue and insight as tools?
The costs associated with sickness absence run to around NOK 15,000 a week (arbinn.no). At the other end, low sickness absence is extremely beneficial. Instead of the costs mentioned, you gain increased value in resources, and the calculation is turned on its head. Not only do you save the costs of absence, you gain from increased productivity. The effect of low sickness absence is beneficial for the individual, colleagues, the organisation and society.
There are many causes of sickness absence, and some situations are more serious and unmanageable than others. This article will focus on manageable sickness absence and on how to prevent sickness absence in the workplace.
Workplaces with a manager who works closely with employees and actively works on a culture of attendance have lower sickness absence. This also applies if the manager sees sickness absence in light of the consequences it has for both colleagues and the organisation. The cause of sickness absence is a private matter, but the absence itself is not. It affects the organisation and colleagues to a great extent.
The manager has overall responsibility for their employees' physical and psychosocial working environment. Work should be safe and, not least, pleasant and motivating. Working life is not always a bed of roses with a friction-free everyday life. We face challenges at work and outside work that affect our attendance and engagement.
Create an arena and a sense of safety for employees to raise the challenges they face in their working day. The employee appraisal is a great starting point, and both parties should come prepared. Here you can lower the threshold for raising challenges and gain insight into motivation, engagement and mastery. Is anything holding back motivation? Is there something you can do together? Communicate that you as a manager want to facilitate the best possible work situation, and clarify expectations within the organisation's resources and framework. Show confidence by giving more autonomy, while having clear frameworks and objectives. I recommend not micromanaging how tasks are solved, but rather trusting employees to solve the tasks they are responsible for. In Norway, self-leadership has become a popular leadership style.
Create a culture of attendance where each person's contribution is emphasised, along with how it affects colleagues and the organisation. Make it possible to take a “break” during demanding periods in the form of shorter working days or days off. Make sure employees have the equipment they need to carry out their tasks well over time without injury.
A supportive and empowering leadership style appears to have a good effect on sickness absence: employees who experienced a high level of such a leadership style also had less sickness absence (Schmid, J. A. et al. 2017). Managers therefore have a good opportunity to influence sickness absence by being supportive of their employees.
