Fusion HR Highlights the Growing Cost of Poor Employee Health on Irish Productivity

Fusion HR today announced the results of its analysis of the cost which health risk factors, prevalent in the Irish workforce, has on productivity in the Irish economy.

To estimate the cost of poor employee well-being on the Irish economy Fusion HR analysed the health risk factors identified by just under 600 Irish employees through its Health House wellness portal.

The company then applied productivity impact factors which resulted from a key study carried out in 2005, at the University of Michigan, on the association of health risks and job productivity of over 28,000 employees, to quantify its findings.

Fusion HR’s analysis of its Irish employee data is inline with the University of Michigan study which found that while on average each employee has 1.2 health risks, some employees can have up to 6 separate health risks.

The University of Michigan study concluded that employee productivity is reduced by 2.4% for each risk factor present.

Aaron Keegan, CEO, Fusion HR said, “By applying the productivity impact factors from the University of Michigan study to our Irish data we estimate that €2.4 billion per annum is the cost of lost productivity to the Irish economy, due to poor employee well-being. This equates to approximately €1,200 per employee for the approximately 2 million Irish workforce.”

He added, “While everyone is aware of the importance of health and wellbeing to an organisation, up to now it has been very difficult to quantify the effect and more research in this area is required.”

Conor Hoey, Chief Sales Officer, Fusion HR said, “Many businesses want to be supportive of their staff’s welfare and happiness, but they need to ensure that the resources they provide are effective and deliver value for money.”

He added, “We recommend that companies and organisations develop a wellbeing strategy that meets their needs and resources. We provide the tools to enable them discover the risk factors that are within their organisations and once these are known an integrated plan in conjunction with employees can be developed and measured.”

He concluded, “For example a 15% reduction in employee risk factors would result in a productivity improvement of €360 million for Irish companies in addition to improvements in employee welfare, productivity and less strain on the health system.”

Fusion HR, a corporate health services provider, is headquartered at NexusUCD, the industry partnership centre at University College Dublin.