As businesses are more concerned about ways to cut cost at present, they are neglecting the amount of lost productivity as a result of sick workers showing up for work. Previous studies have found that presenteeism sometimes cost businesses 7-15 times more than that due to lost workdays. For example, a study by Goetzel et al. in Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine estimates  average cost per employee from lost workdays for Asthma in 2004 was $2.1 whereas it was $72.2 due to presenteeism.  The same study estimated that cost associated with employee’s emotional disturbances was $33.4 in terms of lost workdays and $246 in terms of presenteeism. A 2007 study by Milken Institute estimated that productivity loss from lost workdays and presenteeism for workers and caregivers for seven major chronic diseases amounted to a staggering over $1 trillion to U.S. businesses.  A big chunk of this came from cost due to presenteeism. Assuming the current recession will result in more presenteeism, the amount will be staggering in near future.

The bottomline is that businesses are so  much concerned about their survival in this current recession so that they are neglecting the productivity losses which can be averted. These businesses will suffer long-term consequences if  they do not take care of their employees now.