Diabetes Management Research, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Niels Steensens Vej 6, DK-2820, Gentofte, Denmark.
Incentive, Holte, Denmark.
BMC Public Health. 2019 May 16;19(1):584. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6919-6.
The number of people of working age suffering from chronic disease is increasing. Chronic diseases such as diabetes can cause negative work-related consequences in the form of early retirement or absenteeism. Providing flexible workplace accommodations may enable the person with diabetes to retain their position in the labor market. However, the successfulness of such accommodations depends largely on the perceptions of those not suffering from diabetes. The purpose of this study was to examine preferences of a population of workers in Denmark for flexibility at the workplace, for people with diabetes and for people with chronic disease in general, measured as their willingness to pay (WTP).
Respondents were drawn from online panels and randomized to answer an online survey regarding flexibility at the workplace for people with diabetes or chronic disease in general. One thousand one hundred and three respondents were included in the analysis. Based on discrete choice experiments included in the survey, we analyzed WTP for five flexibility attributes: part-time, customizing job description, additional break with pay and time off for medical visits with and without pay. We further examined perceptions of the employer's responsibility to ensure workplace flexibility for five different specific chronic diseases including diabetes. Finally, we analyzed differences in WTP for flexibility across subgroups.
Respondents' WTP was significantly higher for chronic disease in general compared to diabetes for the possibility of part-time (81€/month vs. 47€/month, p < 0.001) and customizing job description (58€/month vs. 41€/month, p = 0.018) attributes, as well as for the overall average (49€/month vs. 36€/month, p = 0.008). Ensuring workplace flexibility for patients with a specific chronic disease other than diabetes (cancer, heart disease, arthritis and COPD) was to a higher degree considered a responsibility of the employer. Average WTP for flexibility varied across subgroups, consistently yielding a larger amount for chronic disease in general.
The population examined in this study are willing to pay less for flexibility at the workplace for people with diabetes compared to people with chronic disease in general. This finding was evident in terms of specific flexibility attributes and on average across subgroups.
处于工作年龄段的慢性病患者人数正在增加。糖尿病等慢性病可能会导致提前退休或旷工等负面的工作后果。提供灵活的工作场所可能使糖尿病患者能够保留其在劳动力市场中的职位。然而，这种适应的成功在很大程度上取决于没有患糖尿病的人的看法。本研究的目的是检验丹麦劳动力对工作场所灵活性的偏好，具体来说，是针对糖尿病患者和一般慢性病患者，测量其支付意愿（WTP）。
从在线小组中抽取受访者，并对他们进行随机调查，以了解他们对糖尿病患者或一般慢性病患者工作场所灵活性的看法。共有 1103 名受访者参与了分析。基于调查中包含的离散选择实验，我们分析了对五个灵活性属性的 WTP：兼职、调整工作描述、额外带薪休息时间和带薪/不带薪的医疗访问时间。我们进一步研究了雇主对确保五种不同特定慢性病（包括糖尿病）工作场所灵活性的责任的看法。最后，我们分析了不同亚组对灵活性的 WTP 差异。
与糖尿病相比，受访者对一般慢性病的 WTP 明显更高，这体现在兼职（81 欧元/月与 47 欧元/月，p<0.001）和调整工作描述（58 欧元/月与 41 欧元/月，p=0.018）属性的可能性方面，以及总体平均值（49 欧元/月与 36 欧元/月，p=0.008）方面。确保除糖尿病以外的特定慢性病患者（癌症、心脏病、关节炎和 COPD）的工作场所灵活性被认为是雇主的更高责任。灵活性的平均 WTP 在不同亚组之间存在差异，但始终对一般慢性病的 WTP 更高。
本研究中检查的人群对糖尿病患者工作场所灵活性的支付意愿低于一般慢性病患者。这一发现体现在特定的灵活性属性和跨亚组的平均水平上。
