The poor health of workers costs US employers $ 575 billion annually … [+]
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Workers’ poor health costs US employers $ 575 billion annually, ranging from productivity losses due to absenteeism and chronic illness to injuries that result in compensation for workers, according to a new analysis.
Such illness-related health care costs for poor workers amount to 61 cents for every dollar that employers spend on health care services, the Integrated Benefits Institute, a health research group that works with U.S. employers, said in its report released Tuesday. U.S. employers spend $ 950 billion on health care services for their employees and loved ones, the report said.
The $ 575 billion cost includes 1.5 billion days of lost productivity when workers get sick and miss their work due to sick leave. The analysts at the Integrated Benefits Institute used data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and data from 66,000 employers from 2015 to 2019 for the analysis. Therefore, the data does not include data on employer experience in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States
Still, the data can be a useful tool for employers, the institute says, as they work on their performance strategies when the economy opens fully again after the pandemic ends.
“We developed our current Illness and Injury Business Impact Model more than five years ago, based on the largest database in the country of employer-sponsored disabilities, employee benefits, and family and sick leave entitlements,” said Brian Gifford. Director or Research and Analytics at IBI. “So we can look back at employers’ experiences in 2015, see how absenteeism patterns have changed, and get a better sense of prioritizing investments in healthy workers for the post-pandemic economy.”
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