About the case
- Company: AURA
- Industry: Energy and Infrastructure
- Challenge: High sick leave rates without insight into the causes
- Solution: Combining sick leave data with wellbeing data through Woba
Results
Absence
8.7% fewer sick leave incidents
Insight
18.5% shorter absence duration
Improvement
AURA achieved fewer sick leaves, faster recovery, and a stronger work environment. Clear prioritization of future initiatives
Action
Identified four work environment factors that predict absence
From Reactive to Proactive: Why AURA Addressed Sick Leave
For AURA, sick leave is not just a number in a spreadsheet. It is a strategic indicator of how employees thrive and develop. This focus became a management priority.
“Sick leave is a strategic focus set by our board. We want to be an attractive workplace where we attract, retain, and develop employees. High sick leave can signal challenges in wellbeing or the work environment, which affects both recruitment and retention. It is also an economic factor.”
– Jes Mateusiak Abildsten, HR Manager, AURA
The Key to Change? Understanding Why Absence Happens, Not Just When
Woba helped AURA combine internal sick leave data with wellbeing data. This made it possible to understand what actually drives absence, enabling early action before issues escalate.
By analyzing two measurement periods (2023 and 2024) using panel data, AURA identified patterns, causal links, and the specific work environment factors predicting both frequency and duration of sick leave.
Results That Matter
“Woba’s data enables us to act proactively instead of reactively. In some cases, we can spot patterns in sick leave and intervene before it develops into long-term absence.”
– Jes Mateusiak Abildsten, HR, AURA
The numbers speak clearly:
• 8.7% fewer sick leave incidents
• 18.5% shorter sick leave periods
Employees became ill less often and returned to work faster. But the benefits didn’t stop there.
Four specific work environment factors were identified as key drivers of absence, allowing AURA to target initiatives for maximum impact.
Why Does It Work? Because Woba Links Insights to Action
As Julian Raymond, Data Analyst at Woba, explains:
“It’s not enough to know whether sick leave is high or low. The key is understanding why. Once we identify what drives absence through likely correlations, we can build initiatives that work systematically.
It’s like finding the 4–5 cogs in the machine that need to turn to move the entire organization in the right direction. With that knowledge, you avoid wasting time and effort on what doesn’t create change.”
From Analysis to Proactive Action: How AURA Prioritizes Today
Collaboration with Woba.io has enabled AURA to move from gut feeling to targeted decision-making. The analysis provided both surprises and confirmations, but most importantly, it created a clear proactive foundation for decisions.
“Some insights surprised us, others confirmed what we expected. Either way, Woba’s data analysis enabled us to prioritize our preventive initiatives. Going forward, we plan to use such analyses to ensure we invest resources in the right areas when working with wellbeing.”
– Jes Mateusiak Abildsten, HR, AURA
What Do You Gain from Working with Woba?
AURA is a prime example of how Woba helps organizations:
• Gain clarity on their people risk
• Predict and prevent absence with higher precision
• Consolidate fragmented data into one analysis
• Move from measurement to effective action
• Document real value for both management and employees
