Within Inter IKEA Group, MedHelp Care’s health platform has long been used to manage sick leave, but also to follow sick leave over time and be able to act in the right way. The positive effects are several. It is an important piece of the puzzle in reducing sick leave and less time needs to be spent on administration. In addition, it provides a good understanding of the health situation and makes it easier to support employees in the best way.
The history of Inter IKEA Group and MedHelp Care started back in 2010. Inter IKEA Group started using MedHelp Care’s occupational health services, and the collaboration has since developed over time.
Karl-Johan Kallenberg is Co-Worker Experience Manager at Inter IKEA Group and is responsible for processes and systems related to co-workers. He has been at IKEA since 2009 and has worked with MedHelp Care since 2010.
– With the help of MedHelp Care’s health platform, we support reduced sick leave and reduce the time managers and employees need to spend on administration. This results in big gains, both regarding well-being and time, says Karl-Johan.
Help to identify, manage, act, and measure
In Sweden, the approximately 5,000 employees within the Inter IKEA Group, spread across 12 companies, use MedHelp Care’s health platform to manage their sick leave. It gives managers an overview of the health situation, the opportunity to measure sick leave, and identify risks and causes of ill health. The Health Platform also makes it possible to act with the right measures at the right time in case of sick leave and rehabilitation.
The Health Platform is a managerial tool, but it also supports employees when they are sick. It helps managers and employees navigate what to do in the event of illness. It also makes it easier for managers to work towards a safe and secure work environment, and the rehab processes become clearer.
Data-driven identification of risks
MedHelp Care’s Health Platform enables Inter IKEA Group to have a data-driven and proactive approach concerning employee health. Based on real-time data from the health platform, managers can follow the health situation and see history and patterns. At an aggregate level, all HR managers can review the health situation in their teams. Signals and risks of ill health can then be identified at an early stage, which helps in proactive health work.
At Inter IKEA Group, it is called People Scorecard and is a scorecard where each manager can get a picture of, among other things, the health situation in the team in real-time, but also get aggregated data over time.
– With the help of the People Scorecard, we try to identify what triggers sick leave and speed up processes to prevent employees from going on long-term sick leave, says Karl-Johan.
Their health work has a strong focus on identifying and managing risks.
– The majority of employees are fine, but there is also a smaller group with a higher risk, and by following them we can more easily determine how we should work and help in the best way. It is a data-driven and reliable work, and at the same time tailored to each and everyone’s situation,” says Karl-Johan.
Based on the data in the health platform, managers and HR managers know which types of absence and causes of absence are most common. At the same time, Karl-Johan points out that Inter IKEA Group has low sick leave. It is mainly white-collar workers who work in different constellations and in a variety of Inter IKEA units or at different suppliers.
– Staying healthy and well when working remotely requires a lot from both the Inter IKEA Group and the employee. It also means that we need to work in a different way to catch any ill health, says Karl-Johan.
Reminders provide security and save time
Reminders from the health platform signal to managers and employees when, for example, it is time to submit a medical certificate, have a rehab interview, or initiate contact with the Social Insurance Agency. Karl-Johan says that it is easy and safe for everyone, especially since everything is also securely documented in one place.
The goal for Inter IKEA Group is to reduce sick leave, but also to cut lead time in terms of everything from administration, management time, and employee time. The various steps are handled quickly, and it is easy with the reminders from the platform in real-time.
Uploading medical certificates directly into the health platform is a feature that was initiated by Inter IKEA Group. They saw the need for a solution for easier and safer handling of medical certificates with sensitive personal data. MedHelp Care developed a new feature based on Inter IKEA Group’s needs and ideas.
– This makes a big difference. When you have a chain with many activities and something doesn’t work, the whole chain becomes inefficient. But when everything works, the chain becomes robust and effortless. Now you can easily submit your certificate, you get a notification when everything is in place, and the certificate is safely stored. We make it easy for many people, in accordance with our vision,” says Karl-Johan.
Integrated systems make it easier
In Sweden, Inter IKEA Group has linked its HR system Workday with MedHelp Care’s Health Platform, which means that all master data is now in one place. Managing sick leave and rehabilitation becomes easy when there is a direct integration between the systems.
– With all data in one system, everything becomes much simpler, all data is stored safely and securely, and we have control over who can see what. Employees can trust that their data is stored as it should be, but also that data is deleted when it is no longer needed. This gives both managers and employees peace of mind, says Karl-Johan.
Employee health information is the most sensitive data we have, but at the same time, it is also the most secure under GDPR.
Karl-Johan says that Inter IKEA Group has high ambitions when it comes to employee health. The goal is to create a healthy and safe work environment so that no one has to be on long-term sick leave. The company should act on early signals to identify any need for work adjustments to avoid sick leave.
-It’s about finding the keys before it happens, acting on early signals and symptoms before the illness. And we can do that with the help of, among other things, MedHelp’s Health Platform, concludes Karl-Johan.
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