Costs of presenteeism and absenteeism associated with psychological distress among male and female older workers: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: We estimated, for women and men: 1) the associations between psychological distress and the prevalences of presenteeism and absenteeism, 2) average hours lost annually per person and 3) costs from the employers' economic perspective.

METHODS: Participants were 1292 Canadian white-collar workers. Psychological distress, presenteeism and absenteeism were assessed with validated questionnaires. The average annual hours of productivity loss and related costs were estimated using generalized linear models with a negative binomial distribution and a log link.

RESULTS: High psychological distress in women and men was associated with presenteeism costs ($6944 and $8432) and absenteeism costs ($2337 and $2796 per person). The association between psychological distress and annual hours lost to presenteeism was twice stronger for men than women.

CONCLUSION: Productivity losses associated with psychological distress are high in women and men older workers.