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Stressed Employees 4.4 Percent Less Productive at Work, Gordian Health Solutions' Research Finds

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 09:01 CDT

Gordian Health Solutions, Inc., a leading national personal health coaching company, has released the results of research showing that, in terms of productivity loss on the job, stressed-out employees cost their employers more than individuals reporting little to no stress.

Gordian's research measured results from personal health assessments and Work Limitations Questionnaires (WLQ (C)1998, The Health Institute, all rights reserved) from over 65,000 employees across a wide range of industries. The results show that those respondents who said stress had "a lot of effect on their life" in the past year had an average productivity loss of 4.4 percent, versus 0.7 percent for those reporting "no stress" in the past year. Similar analyses broken out by industry indicate a consistent trend between stress and productivity loss; the three industries with the greatest productivity loss associated with high stress levels were retail (5.3 percent), finance (5.1 percent) and construction (4.7 percent).

"We've known for a while that stress is linked to a number of health problems, such as anxiety, arthritis, cancer, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, indigestion and insomnia," said the study's co-author, Adam Long, Ph.D., vice president of research and informatics at Gordian. "But now we know that stress has definite effects on employees' presenteeism too." Presenteeism, the counterpart of absenteeism, is the phenomenon of employees showing up to work when ill or otherwise not up-to-par, resulting in lower-than-normal productivity and performance levels.

"It is widely accepted - and empirically documented - that stressed employees cost their employers more in terms of healthcare costs," noted Long. "These costs, coupled with the productivity losses, are real concerns for employers, who shoulder the lion's share of healthcare costs for nonelderly adults across the country."

To improve the health of their employees, and therefore decrease the costs of healthcare, many large employers and other organizations have implemented wellness and health coaching programs that promote healthy lifestyles through prevention and risk reduction. Many of these initiatives include stress management programs, providing personal support and helping individuals develop coping skills for managing their daily stress.

According to Long, incremental corporate changes such as encouraging walking breaks, offering healthy foods at the worksite, and changing company policies and especially norms to encourage wellness can have a lasting impact on a company's culture. A work culture of health and wellness can decrease employee stress, increase employee health, and in turn have significant impact on the employer's bottom line.

A copy of the research titled "The Stress-Health Connection and its Implications for Employers" is available through Gordian's website at http://www.gordian-health.com/ _pdf/MCO_Stress_Health_Connection_May_15_08.pdf.

About Gordian Health Solutions, Inc.

Gordian Health Solutions is the nation's leading personal health coaching company. Gordian is pioneering the next generation of individualized, interactive and integrated health solutions to reduce the demand and cost of healthcare and encourage healthier lifestyles. Gordian delivers personalized one-on-one health coaching, individually tailored websites and other media to help individuals achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles and to address chronic conditions. Gordian pioneered the health coaching industry and, with its 12 years of innovative industry leadership, is poised to advance a culture of wellness that will positively impact lives for years to come. For more information about Gordian, visit www.gordian-health.com.

Source: Business Wire

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