Providing occupational health care – voluntary or not?
Have you considered organising occupational health care for your staff? To make things easier, you don’t need to think about how to organise it: it’s a legal requirement, even if you only have one employee. The quality of it is for you to choose as an employer. The quality is also a way to compete in the employee market.
The provision of occupational health care for self-employed workers is voluntary, but it must always be provided for paid employees.
However, you can think about the range of services you want to offer your employees. As well as your future service provider. Occupational health services aim to promote a safe working environment and support workers’ ability to work throughout their careers, and to prevent illness and accidents at work.
Occupational health care for all
Occupational health care is required by law, but you can choose to provide your employees with services that go beyond the statutory occupational health care. Occupational health care covers all employees covered by the Occupational Health and Safety at Work Act, including, for example, part-time workers.
How much healthcare you want to offer your employees is up to you. At the very least, statutory occupational health care must be provided. The contract for occupational health care must be the same for all staff, i.e. everyone must have access to the same services.
Statutory occupational health care includes:
- health checks based on workplace health risks
- identifying health risks in the workplace through a workplace survey
- proposals for measures to improve working conditions and promote working capacity
- providing advice, guidance and information on improving working conditions and workers’ health
- participation in activities to maintain working capacity
- monitoring workers’ health, promoting their ability to cope at work, providing rehabilitation counselling and referral to rehabilitation when they are unfit for work
- guidance on first aid preparedness in the workplace
A healthy employee is in the interest of the entrepreneur
Statutory occupational health care is quite limited and many employers choose to provide more extensive services to their employees than statutory occupational health care. A healthy and well-working employee is also in the interest of the entrepreneur! So if you wish, you can arrange for general medical care to be provided in conjunction with occupational health care.
As long as the occupational health care you provide is normal and reasonable, it is a tax-free benefit for the employee. The same applies to health insurance, if you are willing to offer it to your employees.
By rewarding and providing employee benefits, you can send a message to your employees that you care about them and value them. Of course, pay is a natural way of rewarding, but have you ever considered other benefits? For example, by providing your employees with more than the statutory occupational health care, you are sending out a message that you value your employees and want to take care of them. A healthy and well-working employee is also in the employer’s interest!
Health insurance for employees?
You can supplement occupational health care by offering your staff voluntary health insurance, which entitles them to more than the minimum level of health and medical care. To be tax-free for employees, the health insurance must meet certain conditions; it must be taken out by the employer and cover all staff, and cannot be used as a substitute for the payment of wages. The annual amount of the tax-free premium can be around €400.
How do I organise occupational health care?
Occupational health services are provided by many different providers. You can get occupational health services from:
- From a health centre/municipal enterprise
- From a private occupational health care provider
- From a joint occupational health centre run jointly with other employers
As the employer, you will sign a written contract with the service provider of your choice for occupational health care, which must also be available to your employees. The contract must indicate the general arrangements agreed for occupational health care, such as subcontractors, location, opening hours and so on. In addition, the contract must describe both the content and the scope of the services. The contract should also be reviewed and updated whenever circumstances change significantly.
In addition to the contract, you must also have a written occupational health care plan, which must be reviewed annually. The action plan defines the general objectives of occupational health care, the needs and measures arising from the workplace conditions, and the models for early intervention and work capacity support. As an employer, you are also responsible for the implementation of the OSH action plan.
Reimbursements for occupational health care for workers
Kela reimburses part of the costs of occupational health care each financial year. Reimbursement is always based on the occupational health care contract, the workplace survey and the occupational health care action plan, which must be up to date. You can get reimbursement from Kela for preventive occupational health care and medical treatment by a general practitioner. Costs are only reimbursed if they are deemed necessary by the occupational doctor or nurse.
You can find a lot more information (in Finnish) on promoting occupational health on the website of the Institute of Occupational Health.
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