Health and productivity management: Establishing key performance measures,benchmarks, and best practices

Major areas considered under the rubric of health and productivity manageme nt (HPM) in American business include absenteeism, employee turnover, and t he use of medical, disability, and workers' compensation programs. Until re cently, few normative data existed for most HPM areas. To meet the need for normative information in HPM, a series of Consortium Benchmarking Studies were conducted. In the most recent application of the study, 1998 HPM costs , incidence, duration, and other program data were collected from 43 employ ers on almost one million workers. The median HPM costs for these organizat ions were $9992 per employee, which were distributed among group health (47 %), turnover (37%) unscheduled absence (8%), non occupational disability (5 %), and workers' compensation programs (3%). Achieving "best-practice" leve ls of performance (operationally defined as the 25th percentile for program expenditures in each HPM area) would realize savings of $2562 per employee (a 26% reduction). The results indicate substantial opportunities for impr ovement through effective coordination and management of HPM programs. Exam ples of best-practice activities collated from on-site visits to "benchmark " organizations are also reviewed.