Ann Occup Environ Med.  2017 ;29(1):17. 10.1186/s40557-017-0172-1.

A global, cross cultural study examining the relationship between employee health risk status and work performance metrics

• Howarth A
• Quesada J
• Mills PR

• KMID: 2454997
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-017-0172-1

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Health risk assessments (HRA) are used by many organisations as a basis for developing relevant and targeted employee health and well-being interventions. However, many HRA's have a western-centric focus and therefore it is unclear whether the results can be directly extrapolated to those from non-western countries. More information regarding the differences in the associations between country status and health risks is needed along with a more global perspective of employee health risk factors and well-being overall. Therefore we aimed to i) quantify and compare associations for a number of health risk factors based on country status, and then ii) explore which characteristics can aid better prediction of well-being levels and in turn workplace productivity globally.
METHODS
Online employee HRA data collected from 254 multi-national companies, for the years 2013 through 2016 was analysed (n"‰="‰117,274). Multiple linear regression models were fitted, adjusting for age and gender, to quantify associations between country status and health risk factors. Separate regression models were used to assess the prediction of well-being measures related to productivity.
RESULTS
On average, the developing countries were comprised of younger individuals with lower obesity rates and markedly higher job satisfaction compared to their developed country counterparts. However, they also reported higher levels of anxiety and depression, a greater number of health risks and lower job effectiveness. Assessment of key factors related to productivity found that region of residency was the biggest predictor of presenteeism and poor pain management was the biggest predictor of absenteeism.
CONCLUSIONS
Clear differences in health risks exist between employees from developed and developing countries and these should be considered when addressing well-being and productivity in the global workforce. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40557-017-0172-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keyword

Employee well-being; Health risk assessment; Workforce productivity; Health risk profiling; Presenteeism; Absenteeism

MeSH Terms

Absenteeism
Anxiety
Depression
Developed Countries
Developing Countries
Efficiency
Internship and Residency
Job Satisfaction
Linear Models
Obesity
Occupational Health*
Pain Management
Presenteeism
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Work Performance*