The Costs of Doing Nothing to Promote Workplace Health

Employee Benefits Costs

1. Employees with high caregiver strain are 1.6 times more likely to spend $150 or more on prescription medication in a six-month period than employees with low caregiver strain (Duxbury et. al, 2004).
2. Employees with high work to family interference are 1.3 times more likely than those with lower levels to spend $150 or more on prescription medication in a six-month period (Duxbury et. al, 2004).
3. Health care costs are 2x - 3x greater for an employee with 3 or more risk factors (i.e. sedentary lifestyle, smoker, overweight and drink too much) than those with no such risk factors. The more risk factors someone has, the greater the cost to an employer they are (Shain & Suurvail, 2001).
4. Active employees have a 25% reduction in the incidence of injury (Plotnikoff et. al, 2003).
5. 1.4 million working Canadians suffer from depression. In Canada, mental health claims are the fastest growing category of disability costs. Disability (all sources) accounts for 4 - 12% of payroll costs (Wilson et al., 2002).
6. Health care expenditures are approximately 50% higher for those employees reporting higher stress levels (Burton, 2004).
7. This diagram shows that when the psychosocial environment of a workplace is poor or compromised, there are negative consequences to employee health.

Additional information on effort/reward and demand/control can be found in Health Canada's document Best Advice on Stress Management in the Workplace.

Consider some of the hidden costs of doing nothing.

Facts and Stats to Make the Case for Workplace Health