Effects of work-site health promotion on illness-related absenteeism.
This study examined the effects of work-site health promotion on employee absenteeism. Thirty-two work sites were randomized to programs for weight control and smoking cessation or to no treatment for 2 years. The prevalence of self-reported absences from work was assessed at baseline and follow-up. Results using work site as the unit of analysis showed a net reduction in the percent of workers reporting a sick day in the last month in treatment versus control work sites of 3.7% (P = .04) and 3.4% (P = .06) in cross-sectional and cohort analysis, respectively. Further analyses found that the rate of participation in smoking (P = .09) but not weight programs (P = .72) was positively associated with change in sick day prevalence and that this effect was strongest in baseline smokers (P = .002). It is concluded that work-site smoking cessation programs may yield important short-term economic benefits by reducing employee absenteeism.
Jeffery
R W
RW
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454-1015.
Forster
J L
JL
Dunn
B V
BV
French
S A
SA
McGovern
P G
PG
Lando
H A
HA
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D017132:Workplace