Good health status boosts employee productivity
The development of a new corporate specific health risk measurement instrument, and its use in investigating the relationship between health and well-being and employee productivity. Mills PR. Environ Health. 2005. 4: 1-9.
Aim
To develop and validate a 20-question health risk appraisal (HRA) and to assess the impact of employee health risk status on work productivity.
Looked at
2,224 employees of three UK-based organizations who completed the newly developed HRA, the SF-36 health-related quality of life questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Health and Work Productivity questionnaire.
How?
HRA data were compared with data obtained from the SF-36 and World Health Organization questionnaires, and 30 individuals retook the HRA four weeks after the completion date to test the validity of the new HRA.
Results
- The 20-question HRA had excellent validity, both on internal measures and when compared with other questionnaires.
- Individuals in the lower quartile of health had a mean productivity decrement of 33.5% per week; a 23.5% difference in productivity when compared with the upper quartile (i.e. the most healthy individuals).
- Those with low and medium health risk status were almost four times more likely to meet productivity standards than those at high risk.
What does this mean?
Health status is correlated with productivity; the better the health status of an employee the more productive they are.