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Disability Management in Switzerland
Response by Hans Schmidt, Kusnacht, Switzerland
Disability Management in Switzerland is still in its infancy. Typically, disability cases are not managed, they are paid compensation. Only recently has it been discovered that Switzerland also has a serious problems with the increase in workers with disabilities. Due to weak unions, and to employers having a majority in parliament, almost nobody speaks of managing disability at the workplace. This changed approximately three years ago when the benefit plan system which until then had easily financed the rising numbers of workers with disabilities through high earnings on the stock market, realized that they could no longer do so. Consequently, now the employers and government are concerned. However, instead of trying to install disability management at the workplace, they are attempting to create a new body into a very complex system. In Switzerland there are different insurance systems for accidents, for illnesses and for reintegration. Now the government intends to create a system of "Fruherkennung und Begleitung" (FEB). FEB is a system based on early identification of cases and the ongoing support of the people)(1). However, the government seems unable and unwilling to make employers responsible for reintegrating ill or disabled workers. Employers are free to dismiss such workers after a short period-- six months-- of protection.
Compared to other European countries workers in Switzerland tend to work later into life. More than 30% work after the age of 65 (2). "Only" 40% of the workers retire before the age of 65 for men and the age of 64 for women. In comparison within the European Union only 20% of the workforce is still working between the ages of 60 and 65.
One third of the early pensioners (3) in Switzerland were forced by their employer to retire early. Why? Older employees generally have higher wages. As well, the premiums for the state pension plan rise sharply for the elder workers. Consequently, employers try to get rid of workers they think are less productive. When such job loss happens to older workers they have a very difficult time finding a new job. And in many pension benefit plans there is a possibility of early retiring for men e.g. after passing the age of 60. Furthermore employers very often use the system of unemployment benefit to get rid of older workers: they dismiss their employees four year before (not one day earlier!) reaching the age of 65/64. The workers then get paid two and a half years (instead of two) for their unemployment. An average salary in Switzerland is 70,000 Swiss Francs per year and the dismissed worker gets 70% or 80% of this salary from the unemployment benefit system. This is quite an expensive solution to a perceived problem, and employers use it frequently. The cost to society is high, but by doing this, the employer keeps a clear conscience and the employee a quite good income.
Switzerland as a whole has many incentives going in the wrong direction: not only is it cheaper for employers to dismiss workers at the age of 62/61, it is also cheaper to dismiss people and pass them over to the disability system rather than keep them at work. In Geneva, they investigated the quota of invalidity (people with more than 40% of loss in earnings due to illness/accident). The table below shows the distressing results for certain branches/professions (4):
Table
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Branch or professional group
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% of persons who became disabled between 45 and 65
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Scientific professions
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29
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Police/Fire Departments
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53
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Teachers
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6.2
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Office Workers
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11.7
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Lorry/truck Drivers
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20.8
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Auto Mechanics
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25.2
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Construction Workers
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40.0
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