Fra handlingsrom til forhandlingsrom. Nav-veilederes samarbeid med arbeidsgivere om oppfølging av sykmeldte arbeidstakere

Abstract

From the standpoint of frontline workers in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (Nav), this chapter investigates their collaboration with employers in return-to-work processes for employees on sick leave. The chapter focuses on how I applied institutional ethnography to explore frontline workers’ experiences and how this method of inquiry was useful to handle my dual role as both a researcher and a Nav employee. By tracing informants’ use and understanding of the concept “room for action”, institutional ethnography was helpful to explicate how the ruling relations of Norwegian activation policies shape the everyday working lives of Nav employees.