Verzuim insurance

Absenteeism insurance is also called sickness insurance or sick pay insurance. With a sick leave insurance you are insured for the costs you have when your employees become ill. When an employee falls ill, you as an employer are obliged to continue paying his/her wages for two years. You will also have to deal with other costs, such as replacement staff, loss of production and reintegration costs. All this together can add up considerably. That is why absence insurance can offer a solution.

What is absence insurance?

Does your employee become ill? Then as an employer, you are obliged to continue paying wages for two years. We call this the obligation to continue paying wages. The costs for a sick employee can mount up considerably. In addition to continued payment of wages, you may also incur costs for replacement staff, possible lost turnover, costs for absenteeism guidance and reintegration costs. Especially when your organisation is not that big, it is not always easy to pay these costs. That is why you can take out absenteeism insurance. With absenteeism insurance, you are insured for the costs when your employees fall ill.

When to take out absenteeism insurance?

Taking out absenteeism insurance is not compulsory. When is it wise to take out absenteeism insurance? When an employee is ill for a long time, this often leads to high costs. When you are in doubt about taking out a leave of absence insurance, it is important that you take a good look at the financial capacity of your company. Suppose that there are several employees who are sick for a long time, can you take care of the absenteeism costs yourself? Or do you not want to/ cannot cover the costs in that case? The premium of a sick leave insurance may seem high, but the costs of a sick employee are much higher. The fact that the chance of (a lot of) sick leave in your organisation is small, does not really matter.

What does absence insurance cost approximately?

To calculate the premium for an absenteeism insurance, an insurer uses a premium percentage. The premium for an absence insurance can be calculated by multiplying this premium percentage with the total wage costs of the company. On average, the premium is between 1.5% and 5.5% of the total wage costs. The amount of the percentage depends on various factors. An insurer looks at:

• The composition of your staff (age, number of part-timers, etc.)
• The sector or industry in which you work
• The absence figures of the last 3 years

What does absence insurance cover?

The coverage of an absenteeism insurance may differ per insurer. In any case, the coverage of an absenteeism insurance includes the costs of continued payment of wages of a sick employee for the first two years. However, a sick employee has even more costs, because your employee will probably return to work after the absence. That is why some insurers include the following costs in their policies:

• The employer's costs
• The absence management
• The reintegration

The coverage can differ from one insurer to another, so always check your insurer's policy conditions.

Is absence insurance mandatory?

No, it is not compulsory to take out absenteeism insurance. As an employer, you decide whether or not to take out absenteeism insurance. Although it is not a legal requirement, it is often a wise choice. Did you know that a sick employee costs you on average €250 per day? The biggest cost is the continued payment of wages. In the Netherlands you must continue to pay the wages of a sick employee for two years. This must be at least 70% of the gross salary, but many collective agreements stipulate that you must continue to pay 100% of the salary for the first year. This can differ per CLA. In addition, you will of course have to deal with all the other costs, such as the reintegration of the employee and perhaps the hiring of a replacement.

What is covered by sick leave?

There are different types of absence. The most common is sick leave. Absenteeism and sick leave are often considered the same, but absenteeism is not always related to illness. Absenteeism means that the employee fails to work for any reason. There is absenteeism when an employee cannot fulfil his employment contract because of demonstrable medical reasons. These can be physical complaints, such as the flu, but also psychological clients and private circumstances.

If your employee reports sick, it is important that you, as an employer, have insight into the reason for absence. Sometimes the same employee reports sick several times a year (frequent short-term absenteeism). Although in principle you do not need to do much in the case of repeated short-term absence, it is a good idea to view this repetition as a signal. Frequent short-term absence often precedes long-term absence. By understanding the reason, you can anticipate this and look for a solution to help the employee.

Types of absence

There are different types of sick leave, namely:

• Short-term sick leave
• Frequent short-term sickness absence
• Long-term sick leave
• Unauthorised absence

Take out absence insurance directly through Alpina

At Alpina.nl you can request a quote for your absence insurance easily and without obligation. To request the quote, fill in some data about your company. Based on these details, we can prepare an accurate quote for you. In the quote you will find an overview of the various insurances. So you can easily compare the premium for absence insurance yourself.

The premium for an absenteeism insurance is reviewed every year. Here, we look at whether the company data has changed and whether there have been personnel changes, causing the age structure to change. In addition, the ratio between how much has been paid out in the past year and how much premium has been paid is taken into account. They also look at the absenteeism rate over the past three years and at the premium. Certain structural changes in a sector can sometimes lead to an adjustment.

Do you have any questions about absenteeism insurance? Then please contact us! Our insurance specialists are happy to think along with you and can answer all your questions. You can reach us Monday to Friday from 08.00 to 18.00 by phone at 0800 - 688 37 12. Of course, you can also send us a message via chat, WhatsApp or Messenger.