Respiratory infections cost employers £44bn a year – report

With NHS trusts struggling to cope as cases of winter flu soar, a study has warned that respiratory infections cost employers as much as £44bn a year, or the equivalent of £852 per employee.

The report from consultancy the Office of Health Economics (OHE), and funded and commissioned by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has found that short-term respiratory infections are an underestimated drain on employees, businesses, and the economy.

In particular, presenteeism, or working while ill, causes significant productivity losses, in fact making up about 55% of the total costs.

The analysis, extrapolated from a survey of 2,910 adults, found disproportionately higher days were lost to respiratory infection for women compared with men.

Some industries report higher impact than others – people working in public administration and defence were among those that reported the highest average duration of both absenteeism and presenteeism because of respiratory infections.

On average, employees are affected by respiratory infections for just over an entire working week every year, with around one day taken as absence and the remainder as presenteeism days, during which employee productivity drops by 32%, the OHE warned.

Employees reported that key areas of work affected by a presenteeism day related to error rate and quality (29%), creativity (29%), decision making (27%) and communication (26%).

Investments in prevention, including vaccines, hygiene, and social distancing, could yield big returns for businesses, the OHE argued.

With many working adults excluded from NHS-provided respiratory vaccines, employer-led vaccination programs could bridge the gap and drive productivity gains, it added.

Amanda Cole, OHE associate director and co-author of the report, said: “Much has rightfully been said about the effects of long-term ill-health on the workforce and the economy. However, the impact of short-term illnesses on economic productivity has received less attention.

“Our research shows that respiratory infections hit harder than you would think. Short-term respiratory infections incur a substantive cost for employers and, in fact, employees working while ill causes more productivity loss than absence. We also know that these losses are disproportionately borne by women.

“The policy recommendations in the report – and, in particular, the emphasis on prevention, especially through workplace vaccination schemes – offer a solution both to improve overall employee health, but also to address health inequity within the workforce,” Cole added.

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