Research

CAREWorks is designed to improve productivity and increase a companys profitability by caring for their employees. The most significant savings comes by reducing employee stress. The following studies show the hidden cost of stress to corporate America.

Research shows that 60% to 90% of doctor visits are stress related?

Perkins, A. (1994). Saving money by reducing stress. Harvard Business Review. 72(6):12.

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The National Council on Compensation Insurance said that gradual mental stress accounted for 11% of all claims for occupational disease. From 1981 to 1982,

Unmanaged reactions to stress were a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than either cigarette smoking or high cholesterol foods.

Cryer, B. (1996). Neutralizing Workplace Stress: The Physiology of Human Performance and Organizational Effectiveness

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Forty percent of job turnover is due to stress. .

Bureau of National Affairs

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Workers with high stress were over two times more likely to be absent 5+ days a year. .

Jacobson et al (1996) American Journal of Health Promotion, 11(1).

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A Gallup Poll of 201 U.S. corporations revealed that 60% of all managers felt that stress related illness was pervasive among their workers and decreased productivity at an estimated cost of 16 days of sick leave and $8,000 per person per year.

The Gallup Organization

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Depressed individuals contribute 20% less during an episode than others

Greeber, P. et al (1993) The economic burden of depression in 1990. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 54(11), 405-418.

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The average depressed worker costs their employer $3,000 per year.

Greeber, P. et al (1993) The economic burden of depression in 1990. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 54(11), 405-418.

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Insurance data indicates insurance claims for stress related industrial accidents cost nearly twice as much as non stress related industrial accidents.

Perkins, A. (1994). Savings money by reducing stress. Harvard Business Review. 72(6):12.

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Employees with low satisfaction are more likely to have multiple injuries than those with high satisfaction (54% to 43%). Employees with a higher number of stressful life events were more likely to have had more than one injury than those with low (53% to 41%).

Webb, G. et al. (1994). The relationships of work injuries and related absences. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 55 (4), 441-442.

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Constandino Dean Biris, a consultant on corporate change, estimates that at least 45% of American managers suffer too much stress. As a result, they are becoming abusive, intolerant, and dictatorial."pg. 74

Smith, E.T., Brott, J., Cuneo, A., and Davis, J.E. (1988) Stress: The test Americans are failing. Business Week. April 18: 74-76

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Results of the study showed:

Stress at work is strongly correlated to employee burnout, and health and performance problems.

Kohler, S. and Kamp, J. (1992). American Workers Under Pressure Technical Report. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company. St. Paul, MN

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Research with humans experiencing uncontrollable stress shows that such stress results in a deterioration in their cognitive processes, resulting in diminished problem-solving abilities.

Seligman, M. (1972). Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. San Francisco: Freeman and Company.

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Experiments with humans show that uncontrollable stress leads to a shift in thought process to a superficial, simplistic, unoriginal style of thinking.

Pennebaker, J. (1990). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Confiding In Others. NY: Morrow.

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Our ability to learn is directly affected by our emotional state. When we are feeling stressed and insecure, our ability to learn is seriously compromised.

Rose, C. (1985). Accelerated Learning. NY: Dell Books.

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When stressed, people are more likely to respond in an aggressive, territorial, paranoid manner.

Bernstein, A. and Rozen, S. (1989). Dinosaur Brain. NY: Ballentine Books.

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Downshifting is the process in which, as stress level increases, our intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal functioning becomes more primitive and therefore, less effective.

Hart, Leslie.(1983). Human Brain, Human Learning. New York: Longman.

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Our ability to consider subtle environmental and internal cues is reduced. We also seem less able to engage in complex intellectual tasks, those requiring creativity and the ability to engage in open-ended thinking and questioning. (pg. 72)

Caine, R. and Caine, G. (1994). Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. NY: Addison Wesley.

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A Company survey showed high levels of worker stress. The company implemented a variety of programs to address this problem. Result - workerss comp claims decreased by 30%.

Kohler, S. and Kamp, J. (1992). American Workers Under Pressure Technical Report. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company. St. Paul, MN.

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The management of Waste Management, Inc. from Oakbrook, Illinois; believed that worker stress was contributing to absenteeism and medical claims. They instituted a stress management program, which has resulted in a cost savings of $3,750 to $15,000 savings per participant, (amount of savings depended on their annual income).

Naas, R. (1992) Health promotion programs yield long-term savings. Business and Health. 10(13):41-47

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Data from the Human Factors Inventory administered to approximately 1000 employees of a Midwestern hospital resulted in the following organizational changes:

A comprehensive in-house EAP

The addition of a stress management program to the hospitals back program

An intensive problem-focused consultation to leaders of problem departments.
This translated into the following Workers Compensation claim savings:

Workers Compensation claims dropped from 3.1 claims per month to 0.6 per month.

Average monthly cost of claims dropped from $7,329 to $324.

Average total expected claims cost dropped from $24,199 to $2,577.

The authors conclude:

....the results suggest that while a one-time stress management program will have little, if any, effect on accident and injury occurrences, a more permanent, comprehensive, organization-wide program can have more substantial effects.

Steffy, B.; Jones, J.; Murphy, L.; and Kunz, L. (1986). A demonstration of the impact of stress abatement programs on reducing employee=s accidents and their costs. American Journal of Health Promotion. Fall, 25- 32.

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By caring for employees’ emotional well being, stress can be reduced at the workplace. You can therefore expect reductions in turnover, absenteeism, mistakes and accidents, and even health related claims. There should be a corollary increase in production and morale. Allowing CAREWorks to partner with you to care for your employees and help them navigate the problems of life is not only the right thing to do but it is the best thing to do for the company as well.