Impact of Poor Worker Health on Profit and Productivity

"Poor health among workers is far costlier to U.S. employers than they realize, affecting their productivity and bottom line, researchers say. The researchers of the multiyear study of 10 organizations employing more than 150,000 workers analyzed more than 1.1 million medical and pharmacy claims. The study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, finds that when considering medical and drug costs alone, the top five conditions driving costs are cancer, other than skin cancer; back/neck pain; coronary heart disease; chronic pain and high cholesterol. However, when health-related productivity costs are measured along with medical and pharmacy costs, the top five chronic health conditions driving overall health costs shift significantly, to depression, obesity, arthritis, back/neck pain and anxiety."