New analysis from corporate wellbeing expert Dr Paul Lanthois suggests that 'presenteeism' is costing Australian business tens of billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.
Dr Lanthois said that even though many employees are turning up to work each day they may be underperforming to the point where at least 24 working days are lost every year through poor productivity.
One of the largest causes of productivity loss is presenteeism, costing business four times as much as absenteeism. Presenteeism is the loss of productivity that occurs when employees come to work but aren't fully functioning due to illness or injury.
A recent study commissioned by Medibank Private revealed that presenteeism cost the Australian economy $25.7bn in 2005/06, the equivalent of six working days per employee per year.
In Asia the situation is much the same. Recent research conducted by the Nanyang Business School found that presenteeism or showing up for work when too sick to do any, is equal to 14-15 days total annual remuneration per employee.
Two thirds of the study's 244 participants (all aged below 50) said that they went to work despite being ill. Most said that they did so due to work commitments.
"This is only the tip of the iceberg," said Dr Lanthois. "The study only measured the productivity impact of 12 particular medical conditions and didn't include obesity or arthritis, both of which were found in an American study to be among the top six most costly medical conditions in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism."
"When you account for the impact of these medical conditions, the cost of colds and flus, substance abuse, smoking, alcohol, fatigue, sleep deprivation and other undiagnosed medical conditions, the numbers start to become worrying," he said. "Add the $14.8bn burden that workplace stress places on Australian business each year and the cost becomes too great to ignore."
Dr Lanthois said that those companies providing healthy lifestyle training and education to their employees are rewarded with productivity benefits and real competitive advantages.
