Economic Consequences of Illness in the Workplace

• Autores: Paul E. Greenberg, Stan N. Finkelstein, Ernst R. Berndt
• Localización: Sloan management review, ISSN 0019-848X, Vol. 36, Nº. 4, 1995, págs. 26-38
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • When employers focus only on the direct, out-of-pocket costs of health care, they fail to consider the indirect costs of illness in the workplace form workers' impaired functioning on the job and absenteeism. The authors present a case study of the effects of clinical depression on direct and indirect health-related costs and provide a model that employers can apply to a wide range of illnesses to analyze their investments in health care. The authors apply the framework to several workplace situations ¿ employees' depression, cigarette smoking breaks, and arthritis ¿ to estimate the costs of lost productivity. They also show how to do a break-even analysis to determine when employers' investments in health interventions are likely justified.