Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Erasmus Centre for Health Economics Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Pharmacoeconomics. 2023 Sep;41(9):1103-1115. doi: 10.1007/s40273-023-01253-y. Epub 2023 Mar 1.
Productivity costs can form a large and influential component of total costs in an economic evaluation taking a societal perspective. In calculating productivity costs, estimating productivity losses is a central element. Compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects may influence these losses but remain understudied. Compensation mechanisms could reduce productivity losses while multiplier effects may increase them.
Data on productivity losses were collected in 2015 using an online survey among a sample of persons aged 15-65 years in The Netherlands who worked at least 12 h per week and reported to have experienced absenteeism and/or presenteeism during the past 4 weeks. A total of 877 respondents completed the survey that contained questions on productivity losses, compensation mechanisms, and multiplier effects.
We found that 45.5% of the respondents reported absenteeism (average 6.5 days) during the past 4 weeks, losing on average 48.7 working hours, while presenteeism was experienced by 75.9% of respondents, with an average loss of 10.7 working hours. Compensation mechanisms were reported by 76.9% of respondents, compensating almost 80% of their lost production, while multiplier effects were reported by 23.6% of respondents, reducing the productivity of 4.2 colleagues by 27.8% on average, implying a multiplier of 2.1 in that subgroup.
This study highlights that compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects are common and may substantially affect production losses. Investigating these mechanisms and effects further, as well as their interactions, remains important. Translating these findings into productivity cost calculations in economic evaluations is not straightforward and requires attention, especially since compensation mechanisms may not be costless and, for multiplier effects, the value of hours of colleagues may not be similar to that of the person experiencing health problems.
从社会角度出发，在进行经济评价时，生产力成本可能构成总成本的一个重要且有影响力的组成部分。在计算生产力成本时，估算生产力损失是一个核心要素。补偿机制和乘数效应可能会影响这些损失，但这些机制仍未得到充分研究。补偿机制可以减少生产力损失，而乘数效应则可能增加这些损失。
2015 年，我们通过对荷兰年龄在 15-65 岁之间、每周至少工作 12 小时且在过去 4 周内报告有旷工和/或出勤但生产力下降情况的人群进行在线调查，收集了生产力损失数据。共有 877 名受访者完成了包含生产力损失、补偿机制和乘数效应问题的调查。
我们发现，45.5%的受访者在过去 4 周内报告旷工（平均旷工 6.5 天），平均损失 48.7 个工作小时，而 75.9%的受访者报告存在出勤但生产力下降的情况，平均损失 10.7 个工作小时。76.9%的受访者报告了补偿机制，补偿了近 80%的生产力损失，而 23.6%的受访者报告了乘数效应，平均减少了 4.2 名同事 27.8%的生产力，这意味着该亚组的乘数为 2.1。
本研究强调，补偿机制和乘数效应很常见，可能会对生产力损失产生重大影响。进一步研究这些机制和效应及其相互作用仍然很重要。将这些发现转化为经济评价中的生产力成本计算并不简单，需要特别注意，因为补偿机制可能并非无成本，并且对于乘数效应，同事的工作小时价值可能与有健康问题的人并不相同。
