Lower frequency · longer duration · gatekeeper rules
Sickness absence insurance (verzuimverzekering) for office organisations
In an office it is not the number of sickness reports that determines your absence burden, but the handful of cases that remain open for months without a clear medical cause.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
An office organisation has few absence reports, but those it has are long-term and often psychological in nature. The distribution of costs is uneven: a small number of cases accounts for most of the wages paid over two years.
At the same time you have an advantage that a construction or production business lacks: adapted work is available. Reducing hours, redistributing tasks, temporarily giving someone a different role: it can usually be done within your own organisation. As a result a partial return to work gets going sooner and the insurer pays for the part that is not yet being worked.
The most difficult subject is absence around a workplace conflict. Without medical limitations that is not illness and therefore not covered, however high the tension runs.
What does sickness absence insurance cover for office organisations?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Two years
Continued payment of wages
What you are legally required to continue paying.
First year one hundred per cent
Second year seventy per cent
A collective labour agreement may require more
The waiting period
Own retention
How many days you bear yourself.
Shorter is more expensive
Longer brings the premium down
Choose according to what you can bear
Optional
Support and case handling
Guidance with reintegration.
Case management
Gatekeeper Act monitoring
Risk of a wage sanction
What is covered
Situation
Conventional
Full-service option
Continued payment of wages during sickness
Yes
Yes
Guidance with reintegration
No
Yes
Risk of a wage sanction borne by the insurer
No
Yes
Occupational health services included
No
Sometimes
Cost of replacing a member of staff who is off sick
No
No
Sickness absence that already existed at inception
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
A workplace conflict is not an illness
If someone reports sick after a poor appraisal or a reorganisation, the company doctor must establish whether there really are medical limitations. If there are not, there is no incapacity for work and therefore no payment, while you do continue to pay wages. The usual route is then an intervention period with mediation. Record that assessment, because without an opinion from the company doctor you will face a refusal.
Partial payment on a partial return to work
If someone works part of the week again after two months, the payment falls in line with the percentage of incapacity for work set by the company doctor. That is logical, but it calls for discipline in the administration: you must report every change in capacity. The same applies to a reduction in hours. If you report it late, the insurer can reduce the payment under Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code limit.
The file determines whether you pay the third year yourself
With a long-running office case, the UWV assesses afterwards whether you took the right steps. Precisely because adapted work is available, you are expected to have genuinely offered and recorded it. If a properly supported plan of action is missing or evaluations are not carried out, an extension of the continued payment of wages of up to a year follows. Under a conventional policy that extension is not covered.
What falls outside the cover
Not covered are: absence without a medical basis such as a pure workplace conflict, emergency and short-term care leave, and absence already running on the start date. The costs of an interim worker or of mediation also fall outside the cover. If you fail to disclose existing long-running cases when applying, that affects the duty of disclosure under Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code and its consequences under Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
Payroll. The insured annual wage bill of your office staff is the basis for calculating the premium.
Share of long-running cases in your history. In an office what mainly counts is how many cases pass the one-year mark, not the number of reports.
Mix of roles. The ratio between management, specialist and support roles within the organisation.
Waiting period chosen. Because short-term absence is limited, a longer waiting period gives a premium advantage here with little given up.
Insured cover percentage. If you top up the second year of illness above the statutory minimum, that must be included in the cover.
Use of early intervention. Arrangements for quick access to psychological help or coaching are taken into account at acceptance and renewal.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Is absence caused by a workplace conflict covered?
Only where the company doctor establishes that there are medical limitations. A conflict in itself is not an illness, so without that finding there is no entitlement to a payment while you do continue to pay wages. The usual approach is then a short intervention period in which you use mediation. Always ask for a written opinion from the company doctor before you submit a claim.
How does the payment work if someone is partly back at work?
The insurer pays according to the percentage for which the employee is unfit for work. If someone resumes part of their contracted hours, the payment falls proportionally. You must report every change in capacity, including where the build-up stalls and the hours go back down. Without a timely report you miss out on payment for the period concerned.
Does short-term care leave count as absence?
No. Care leave and emergency leave are forms of leave, not incapacity for work. You continue to pay wages in full or in part in accordance with the law and your collective labour agreement, but the sickness absence insurance pays nothing for it. Only illness or an accident affecting the employee gives entitlement to compensation under this policy.
Why is a long waiting period often sensible in an office?
Because most of the money leaks away in a few long-term cases and not in days off with flu. A longer waiting period lowers your premium without giving up much cover: the cases that matter financially run well beyond that period. But first work out how many short sick days you have each year, so that the choice is well founded.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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