Fatigue-related lost productive time associated with high financial losses
Fatigue in the U.S. workforce: prevalence and implications for lost productive work time. Ricci JA, Chee E, Lorandeau AL, Berger J. J Occup Environ Med. 2007. 49: 1-10.
Aim
To estimate the prevalence of fatigue and its impact on health-related lost productive time (LPT).
Looked at
28,902 US-based employees who participated in a structured productivity telephone interview between August 2001 and May 2003.
How?
The survey findings were used to estimate health-related LPT (i.e. self-reported hours per week absent from work due to health reasons and health-related reduced performance while at work).
Results
- 41% of the study population had fatigue and were significantly more likely to report pain, digestive problems, feeling sad/blue, cold/flu, allergies, asthma, chronic breathing problems, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, than employees without reported fatigue.
- 4.1 hours of productive work were lost each week to fatigue-related LPT, 85.4% of this time related to reduced performance at work.
-
Employees with fatigue cost an estimated US$136.4 billion in health-related LPT annually.
Status
% of employees
reporting ≥ one of nine health conditions
% of employees
reporting health
-related LPT
Hours lost per week
With fatigue
94.0
65.7
5.6
No fatigue
59.9
26.4
3.3
What does this mean?
Fatigue is common among this sample of US employees, and it could cost US employees an excess of $101 billion per year in health-related LPT. Targeting wellness interventions to individuals with fatigue may help decrease overall LPT costs.