Community Health and Employee Work Performance in the American Manufacturing Environment

Megan McHugh,Jane L. Holl,Dustin D. French,Dorothy D. Dunlop,Claude R. Maechling,Diane Farley

doi:10.1007/s10900-018-0570-5

Megan McHugh, Jane L. Holl + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0570-5

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Abstract

Although better community health has long been assumed to be good for local businesses, evidence demonstrating the relationship between community health and employee performance is quite limited. Drawing on human resources data on 6103 employees from four large US manufacturing plants, we found that employees living in counties with poor community health outcomes had considerably higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness (ABT). For example, in one company, employees living in communities with high rates of children on free or reduced lunch had higher rates of ABT compared to other employees [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.52–3.04], and employees living in communities with high rates of drug overdose deaths had higher rates of ABT (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.29–1.77). In one plant, the annual value of lost wages due to ABT was over $1.3 million per year. Employees reported that poor community health (e.g., poverty, caregiving burdens, family dysfunction, drug use) resulted in “mental stress” leading to distraction, poor job performance, and more rarely, lapses in safety. These findings bolster the case for greater private sector investment in community health.

Highlights

Researchers and consultants have produced data showing that poor employee health leads to high direct and indirect costs [1, 2]
With better evidence demonstrating the relationship between community health and employee performance, the financial rationale may be clearer for businesses to establish policies, partnerships, and programs focused on community health
We focused on manufacturing because it is a large industry employing over 12 million workers [13], and previous work has shown that manufacturing communities have relatively high rates of poor health behaviors and health outcomes [11]

Summary

Introduction

Researchers and consultants have produced data showing that poor employee health leads to high direct (e.g., health claims) and indirect (e.g., absenteeism) costs [1, 2]. The link between community health and employee performance (e.g., absenteeism, tardiness, productivity) is conceptually appealing—healthy communities produce healthy workers—evidence demonstrating the effect of community health on employee performance is quite limited [10]. A recent dialogue session with 54 executives from 47 organizations revealed that the primary barrier that limits employers from playing a larger role in advancing community health is a lack of understanding of the connection between community health and its impact on business [12]. With better evidence demonstrating the relationship between community health and employee performance, the financial rationale may be clearer for businesses to establish policies, partnerships, and programs focused on community health

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