Management of disability risks

Risk management is a fundamental part of business operations. Like other risks, disability risks can be anticipated and managed. It is essential to identify possible risks and the mechanisms that give rise to them in order to target preventive measures correctly and at the right time. While it is not possible to avoid all risks related to work ability, it is wise to be prepared for them.

Varma’s services to help manage risks

Can you answer, e.g. the following questions:

How are the business impacts of work ability – or disability – described in your company’s strategy?
Does the contribution category system for disability contributions affect your company?
How do the employees in your company describe their work ability?
What impacts have the development measures targeting work ability had?
Where can I get help if an employee’s work ability fails?

When possible risks and risk groups have been identified, it is easier to plan and target risk-minimising measures. Of the tools offered by Varma, the new ‘Risk survey tool’ and ‘Know the work ability cycle’ surveys, for instance, help with this. We also help build an effective early support model and strong work ability chain, which provide support as work ability weakens. You also have access to the continuously evolving Varma Academy courses and current webinars (mainly in Finnish), which offer you support for managing disability risks.

Start using the ‘Risk survey tool’ and surveys in Varma Online Service

Take advantage of the courses in Varma Academy (in Finnish)

Financial support for disability risk management for Varma’s clients

The goal of financial support for managing disability risk is to target the measures aimed at mitigating the risk as effectively as possible at previously identified risks and risk groups. Varma regularly monitors and assesses its customers’ disability risk situation as part of normal insurance risk management.

How do we identify risks?

We target the financial support intended for managing disability risk at our client companies and organizations with an identified disability risk.

We conduct a risk assessment based on the data in Varma’s entire insurance portfolio in order to identify risks. This assessment helps us to identify customers that have an elevated risk of disability. In the assessment, we take into account the company’s sector, size, age structure and disability pension decisions.

We deepen our understanding of risks by conducting, together with the customer, a disability risk survey using Varma’s risk survey tool and any other available customer data.

What kind of support do we offer for risk management?

We offer a wide range of digital services and tools for managing disability risks. For our customers with a high risk of disability, we also offer expert services and financial support.

We advise and guide our customers in matters related to disability risks.
We help understand the causes of disability risks and the reasons behind disability.
Together we think about ways to manage disability risks.
Once the causes of disability risks and the risk groups have been identified, we can offer the customer financial support for collective measures. This support is covered by the disability contribution’s disability risk administrative cost component.

For what kind of measures do we offer financial support?

Support is granted based on the risk, in accordance with the guidelines of the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). A development measure can target, for example, risks identified in Varma’s risk survey, a workplace survey, occupational health care reports or employee surveys. Support can be given for measures carried out by external service providers, with the purpose of reducing or preventing the identified disability risk. When applying for support, answers to the following, among other, questions must be provided:

What is the risk group that the measure will target and how has the risk group been identified?
What disability risk will the measure seek to reduce or prevent?
How will the measure reduce the identified risk and what is the goal set for the measure?
How will the effectiveness of the measure be monitored and measured?

Examples of supported measures:

strengthening the awareness, commitment and competence of management and supervisors in the areas of disability risk management, knowledge-based work ability management, structures and measures impacting work ability and the roles and responsibilities related to these
identifying workload factors and measures for preventing/reducing the identified workload
collective measures and projects for reducing or eliminating the disability risks for identified risk groups.

Examples of measures we do not support:

measures aimed at individuals (e.g. treatment or therapy)
the purchase of IT systems and licences
equipment purchases (e.g. gym equipment, desks, assistive equipment)
activities that are rewarding in nature and fringe benefits (e.g. exercise and culture vouchers, exercise break activities)
professional competence coaching and training (e.g. collective agreement, language, project and sales coaching)
occupational healthcare services that are the employer’s responsibility to arrange (Kela-compensated).

How much support do we provide?

The support cannot be more than 50% of the total costs of the measure. Varma monitors the implementation of supported measures and their impacts as part of its normal insurance risk management.

How can I apply for support?

Support is applied for through the Varma Online Service

In the Varma Online Service, our customers have access to an action plan tool, in which the information for the measure is saved and which is used to measure and monitor the effectiveness of the action.

What does ‘disability risk’ mean?

Disability risk refers to the risk of an employee retiring on disability pension under the Employees Pensions Act (TyEL), thus increasing the costs for both the company and the earnings-related pension insurance company. Furthermore, the risk may be detrimental to the organisation’s operations if, e.g., the employee’s skills and work input are lost.