The hidden costs of employee drinking: A quantitative analysis.
Drug Alcohol Rev
; 38(5): 543-553, 2019 07.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31170328
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND AIMS:
Alcohol use impacts workplace productivity in terms of absence and reduced performance by employees. This study's aims were to estimate the cost of lost productivity associated with alcohol use in New Zealand and to describe and quantify its impact on employers. DESIGN ANDMETHODS:
An online survey was completed by 800 New Zealand employees and 227 employers across a range of industries. The costs of lost productivity directly attributable to alcohol use were estimated using days off work (absenteeism), lost hours of productive time while at work (presenteeism) and hours spent by employers dealing with alcohol-related issues. Ordinal logistic regression was used to explore the association between employee characteristics and reduced workplace productivity associated with alcohol consumption.RESULTS:
The estimated annual average cost of lost productivity per employee was NZ$1097.71 (NZ$209.62 absenteeism, NZ$888.09 presenteeism) and NZ$134.62 per employer. At a population level this equates to approximately NZ$1.65 billion per year. The significant predictors of reduced workplace performance were being younger (less than 25 years), male, having a stressful job and drinking more than the recommended standard number of drinks per session. DISCUSSION ANDCONCLUSIONS:
Considering absenteeism costs alone will substantially underestimate the total productivity loss associated with alcohol use. Designing and effectively targeting a set of multifaceted policies to engineer change at both the workplace and societal levels will assist in reducing the costs of lost productivity.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Alcohol Drinking
/
Workplace
/
Absenteeism
/
Efficiency
/
Presenteeism
Type of study:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
Drug Alcohol Rev
Journal subject:
TRANSTORNOS RELACIONADOS COM SUBSTANCIAS
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
New Zealand
Publication country:
AU
/
AUSTRALIA
/
AUSTRÁLIA