oa De effecten van een loterij op ziekteverzuim; een case studie

The effects of a lottery on sickness absenteeism; a case study

We investigate the effect of a lottery incentive system on sickness absenteeism. The bonus was set up by a manufacturing firm, in which workers had access to a monthly lottery that was based on their absence records in the previous three months. Each month, there was a random drawing of seven winners, who received a gift coupon of 75 euros each. Workers who have not reported absent during the previous months participated in the lottery. After winning the lottery, workers were not allowed to participate in subsequent lotteries. Our results show that the incentive of the lottery leads to a decrease in absence. However, the effect declines a few months after the introduction. In addition, the lottery system has a larger response from men than from women. Finally, we find that employees return to higher levels of absence, after winning the lottery.