Do your employees come to work when they are sick?
Business Know How defines Presenteeism as the practice of employees reporting to work when
ill and not operating at their usual level of productivity. An estimate of the cost of
presenteeism to U.S. Employers ranges from $150-250 Billion annually which is about 60% of
the total cost of worker illness. A study by the Harvard Business Review looked at Lockheed
Martin and found that 28 conditions where people came to work and were not well cost the
company approximately $34 Million Annually. The chart below from the report shows the amount
of lost revenue based on condition. (Hemp, 2004)
| Condition | Prevalence | Average productivity loss | Aggregate annual loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migraine | 12.0 % | 4.9 % | $434,385 |
| Arthritis | 19.7 | 5.9 | 865,530 |
| Chronic lower-back pain (without leg pain) | 21.3 | 5.5 | 858,825 |
| Allergies or sinus trouble | 59.8 | 4.1 | 1,809,945 |
| Asthma | 6.8 | 5.2 | 259,740 |
| GERD (acid reflux disease) | 15.2 | 5.2 | 582,660 |
| Dermatitis or other skin condition | 16.1 | 5.2 | 610,740 |
| Flu in the past two weeks | 17.5 | 4.7 | 607,005 |
| Depression | 13.9 | 7.6 | 786,600 |
Source: Debra Lerner, William H. Rogers, and Hong Chang, at Tufts-New England Medical
Center
When employees come to work with these conditions, they are not working at 100% and are
therefore costing your company money. They could also be coming to work while contagious
therefore infecting other workers causing absenteeism rates to increase dramatically. Any
way you look at it, presenteeism is a big factor in lost revenue for the company. Are there
appropriate ways to deal with presenteeism? Awareness of the problems and knowing your
employees are the first steps but having a method to make sure that employees are properly
diagnosed when sick plays a large part in combating the problem of presenteeism.
An on-site primary care clinic provides employees a place to go when they do not feel right
and get diagnosed by a physician without having to pay a co-pay. The lack of out of pocket
expense takes away a barrier that stands between employees and proper treatment plus it
provides ease of access to a physician. When employees know what is wrong and the proper way
to treat an ailment, they can get healthy and therefore more productive on the job. On the
other hand if employees do not feel right but hesitate to go to a doctor due to cost or
difficulty of access, they can get sicker or less productive. The on-site clinic also allows
employees to quickly get checked and get back on the job (average appointment times range
from 20-30 minutes) as opposed to going to the retail market and sitting in a waiting room
for 1-2 hours. The ease of access and quality treatment put together make for a more
productive use of company resources and healthier employees.
