Report: Respiratory infections are costing employers PS44bn per year.

As NHS Trusts struggle to cope with the cases of winter influenza, a new study warns that respiratory infections can cost employers up to PS44bn per year or equivalently PS852 for each employee.

According to the report by the Office of Health Economics, funded and commissioned and funded by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and funded through the Office of Health Economics, short-term respiratory illnesses are a drain on businesses and employees.

Presenteeism or working when ill is a major cause of productivity loss, and accounts for about 55%.

Extrapolating from a survey of 2 910 adults, the analysis found that women lost disproportionately more days to respiratory infections than men.

Some industries have a greater impact than others. For example, people in the public administration and defense sector reported the longest average absence and presenteeism due to respiratory infections.

OHE warns that employees’ productivity can drop by as much as 32% when they are sick with respiratory infections.

Employees reported key areas of work that were affected by a day of presenteeism. These included error rate and quality (29%) as well as creativity (29%) decision-making (27%), and communication (26%).

OHE said that businesses could reap big rewards from investing in prevention measures, such as vaccines, hygiene and social distance.

Employer-led vaccination programs can bridge the gap for many adults who are not eligible to receive respiratory vaccines from the NHS and increase productivity, according to the report.

Amanda Cole, associate director of OHE and co-author, stated: “Much was said, and rightly so, about the impact of long-term illness on the workforce and economy. The impact of short-term illness on economic productivity, however, has received much less attention.

Our research has shown that respiratory infections are more serious than people think. Employers incur substantial costs due to short-term respiratory infections. In fact, working sick employees cause more productivity loss than being absent. These losses are also disproportionately suffered by women.

The report’s policy recommendations, and in particular the focus on prevention through workplace vaccination programs, offer a solution to both improve employee health overall, as well as to address health disparities within the workforce,” Cole said.