Over-Productivity is Hurting your Bottom Line

While some employers believe stress to be a “necessary evil” to remain productive and profitable in today’s global economy, research indicates otherwise (1).  In the United States, 26-40% of employees report being extremely stressed or burned out (1), in the European Union, 28% of employees reported feeling stressed at work, and in Japan, 63% of employees reported serious work anxiety or stress (2).  

Stress is associated with increased absenteeism, tardiness, and intentions to quit, and decreased motivation, productivity, and health—all of which impact the corporate bottom line (1; 3).  These impacts are estimated to cost $50-$100 billion a year in the United States alone (4; 5; 6) while costing $6 billion in Canada (7).  Worldwide these costs could total up to $187 billion, with 70%-90% of those relating to productivity costs (8).

Ongoing stress can also contribute to longer-term issues and it's even been found that stress could contribute up to 90% of health symptoms and disorders (5).  Long-term stress can manifest as psychological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder), emotional disturbances (e.g., dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension), maladaptive behaviours (e.g., aggression, substance abuse, accidents, injury, suicide), physical illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease; cancer; ulcers, decreased immune system, neuroendocrine disorders, autonomous nervous systems, blood pressure, blood lipids, uric acid), and cognitive impairments (e.g., sleep disorders; 1; 2; 4; 6; 9; 10; 11). 

These long-term consequences have incremental impacts on corporate profitability.  For example, increased use of short- and long-term sick leave and temporary or permanent replacement and retraining of skilled employees costs Canada $3.5 billion annually (12) and mental-illness, overall, costs $14 billion (13).  In the United States, depression alone costs $30-$44 billion due to absenteeism, loss of productivity, and other workplace behaviours (14; 15), and €118 billion in total costs for the European Union (16), annually.

​It's time to re-think overworking yourself or your employees to get greater productivity and realize that in the long-run it will lead to lower productivity as well as many other consequences including hurting profitability. Now it's time to re-focus on engagement, motivation, and purpose. 

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