The profitability of investments in work life‐oriented rehabilitation: A measurement of perceptions

Suggests that this study may be recognized as a contribution to the lack of economic evaluations of investments in health promotion programmes. Also contributes to the evaluation of the Swedish work life experiment in the beginning of the 1990s, and the establishment of the Swedish Work Life Fund (SWLF). States that perceptions of the profitability of investments in work life‐oriented rehabilitation, including changes in work organization, changes in work methods and competence development, were investigated in 108 randomly selected organizations. The findings indicate that the investments, which were partly financed by grants from the SWLF, contributed to a reduction in sick‐leave and an increase in productivity. The median value of the pay‐back period was estimated to be 3.0 years. Public organizations, a considerable number of employees, a high percentage of women employees, a significant reduction in sick‐leave and an ongoing organizational change, are some of the characteristics of investments with a short pay‐back period. Concludes that the findings further indicate that grants from the SWLF were an important factor in the initial implementation of investments.