New research suggests that nearly 23% of the work force within the United States suffers from some degree of insomnia. This costs employers a total of 63.2 billion dollars each year because of the 257.2 days that are approximately missed which lead to productivity losses. This recent finding suggests that perhaps employers should invest in some prevention or interventions to make sure their employees are getting adequate sleep.
Researchers are rather shocked as to the statistics that they discovered and as to the significant impact that insomnia has on the workplace which tends to be overlooked by employers due to the fact that it is not considered to be an illness and generally does not lead to extended time away from work.
Employers are simply making a mistake by underappreciating the issue of insomnia on their workforce. Lead author of the study, Ronald Kessler, noted that insomnia is definitely a problem that is constantly overlooked. Americans are not necessarily missing a lot of work time due to insomnia, but rather are accomplishing less on the job because of being tired. Within our data-based economy, it is hard to find a condition other than insomnia that has such an effect on productivity.
During the study, “Insomnia and the Performance of U.S. Workers: Results from the American Insomnia Survey”, researchers discovered that women suffer in higher rates when compared to men and insomnia.
Now that we are aware as to how much money insomnia is costing the workforce, employers need to determine if the price for some type of intervention for their employees would be worth it in the long run. According to psychiatric epidemiologist from the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, Kessler explained that it seems fair to note that employers cannot afford to NOT intervene in regards to insomnia in the workplace.
Executive director and senior scientist at the Sleep Medicine and Research Center from St. Luke’s Hospital, James Walsh, noted that a sleeping pill costs about $200 each year according to a study that was sponsored by Merck and Company.
Walsh also points out that behavioral therapy costs about $1200 annually in order to treat a patient with insomnia.
This particular finding was pulled from a national sample of 7,428 employees who were questioned about their sleep habits in addition to their work performance. This study was funded by the Sanofi-Aventis Group.
The highest rates of insomnia were found in employees that had a high school diploma and some sort of college education. Employees over the age of 65 were the least likely to report having disturbed sleep.
Also, less educated individuals seemed to be affected the least. These participants were part of the bigger American Insomnia Study, the results of which were published in the journal titled, Sleep.
This particular pharmaceutical funded and sponsored study suggested that interventions on part of the employers could potentially help insomniacs perform better in the work force with programs for managing their condition. The authors of the study however feel that more research needs to be conducted further to obtain exact estimates of return investments if such employers were interested in such interventions.
The results of this study in particular at least concluded the huge financial impact that is due to productivity losses in the workplace in conjunction with employees suffering from insomnia. Estimates revealed that workers in the United States lose about 11.3 days, which translates to $2,280 in annual productivity lost because workers are not getting adequate sleep.
Reference:
Blanchard, K. RN. 2011.Insomnia plagues 23 percent of US workforce: should employers intervene?