Mental Health and Productivity at Work: Does What You Do Matter?

IZA Logo
   

IZA Seminar

Place: Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 9, 53113 Bonn

Date: 04.04.2017, 12:00 - 13:30

   

Presentation by 

Deborah A. Cobb-Clark (University of Sydney)
   

Abstract:

Much of the economic cost of mental illness stems from workers’ reduced productivity. We
analyze the links between mental health and two alternative workplace productivity measures
– absenteeism and presenteeism (i.e., lower productivity while attending work) – explicitly
allowing these relationships to be moderated by the nature of the job itself. We find that
absence rates are approximately five percent higher among workers who report being in poor
mental health. Moreover, job conditions are related to both presenteeism and absenteeism
even after accounting for workers’ self-reported mental health status. Job conditions are
relatively more important in understanding diminished productivity at work if workers are in
good rather than poor mental health. The effects of job complexity and stress on
absenteeism do not depend on workers’ mental health, while job security and control
moderate the effect of mental illness on absence days.

   
   
For more information, please contact seminar@iza.org

© IZA  Impressum  Letzte Aktualisierung: 28.01.2024  webmaster@iza.org