65 percent of employees cite pain causes lost productivity

Chronic pain among the nation’s workforce rose nearly 40 percent between 1996 and 2006 according to a national survey of 1,103 full-time U.S. workers and 251 employment benefits managers.

· 89 percent of full-time employees with chronic pain experienced pain at work.

· 89 percent of full-time employees with chronic pain typically go to work instead of staying home when in pain.

· 27 percent more employees missed work five or more days because of chronic pain during 2006 vs. in 1996.

· 46 percent of employees with chronic pain said the pain often or sometimes affects their ability to perform their job.

· 65 percent of employers surveyed cited pain-related conditions as a cause of lost productivity.

· $1.1 billion of lost wages in 2006 was attributable to employees calling in sick due to any pain-related condition.

Source: National Pain Foundation (2007)

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Comments

[Eric]

Just because the employees have cronic pain, does not mean they are injured. People with STD's still attend work, and I'm sure sometimes miss work due to complications with thier sicknesses, but this does not mean the employer is liable. I need to start staying home from work more often, and when my boss calls my cell, I'll just text him these statistics and say "It's not so bad... see!"

[mattatstetson]

I found it quite interesting that even though employees feel pain, they still attend work. Isnt the company not liable for pending lawsuits if the employees are still attending work when injured? These facts are very interesting and definately gave me a different perspective of employees who experience pain.

[Ira Wolfe]

You are absolutely correct. Although stress is proven to contribute to chronic disease and pain, the other problems only add fuel to the fire (so to speak). Another question to ask: how much of the chronic disease pain actually was a result of the work and not athletic injuries, unhealthy behaviors, obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet, etc and yet the employer somehow ends up footing the bill both for health care and disability benefits as well as lost productivity.

[T. Hristova]

Suffering from chronic pain is not the only problem that employees experience at work. What about stress, time with family not spent, not having time to go the place you've always dreamt of, broken relationships, etc. Is this the cost of money? If yes, I think it's too high but is it only the employer's responsibility to decrease it?