Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing number of people with chronic diseases challenges workforce capacity. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) can have work-related consequences, such as early retirement. Laws of most high-income countries require workplaces to provide accommodations to enable people with chronic disabilities to manage their condition at work. A barrier to successful implementation of such accommodations can be lack of co-workers’ willingness to support people with T2D. This study aimed to examine the willingness to pay (WTP) of people with and without T2D for five workplace initiatives that help individuals with type 2 diabetes manage their diabetes at work.MethodsThree samples with employed Danish participants were drawn from existing online panels: a general population sample (n = 600), a T2D sample (n = 693), and a matched sample of people without diabetes (n = 539). Participants completed discrete choice experiments eliciting their WTP (reduction in monthly salary, €/month) for five hypothetical workplace initiatives: part-time job, customized work, extra breaks with pay, and time off for medical consultations with and without pay. WTP was estimated by conditional logits models. Bootstrapping was used to estimate confidence intervals for WTP.ResultsThere was an overall WTP for all initiatives. Average WTP for all attributes was 34 €/month (95% confidence interval [CI]: 27–43] in the general population sample, 32 €/month (95% CI: 26–38) in the T2D sample, and 55 €/month (95% CI: 43–71) in the matched sample. WTP for additional breaks with pay was considerably lower than for the other initiatives in all samples. People with T2D had significantly lower WTP than people without diabetes for part-time work, customized work, and time off without pay, but not for extra breaks or time off with pay.ConclusionsFor people with and without T2D, WTP was present for initiatives that could improve management of diabetes at the workplace. WTP was lowest among people with T2D. Implementation of these initiatives seems feasible and may help unnecessary exclusion of people with T2D from work.
Highlights
The increasing number of people with chronic diseases challenges workforce capacity
Three samples were formed by applying quotas based on gender, age groups and geography (Eastern and Western Denmark) and based on whether participants had identified themselves as having Type 2 diabetes (T2D) (Self-reported information: ‘Has a physician or other healthcare professional ever told you that you had diabetes?’ Response options included yes, type 1 diabetes; yes, type 2 diabetes; no):
The results revealed willingness to pay (WTP) for all the initiatives: Average WTP for all attributes combined was 34€/month
Summary
The increasing number of people with chronic diseases challenges workforce capacity. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) can have work-related consequences, such as early retirement. Laws of most high-income countries require workplaces to provide accommodations to enable people with chronic disabilities to manage their condition at work. This study aimed to examine the willingness to pay (WTP) of people with and without T2D for five workplace initiatives that help individuals with type 2 diabetes manage their diabetes at work. Low socioeconomic status has been associated with increased risk of early retirement among people with T2D [10]; job type and education level. Nexo et al BMC Public Health (2017) 17:938 are likely individual factors that influence options for managing health-related work disability. Stigma has been identified as a barrier to successful management of diabetes in daily life [15, 16]
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