Plan sponsors underestimate the prevalence of chronic disease in the workplace, according to the 2016 Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey.
While 59 per cent of employees have at least one chronic condition — high blood pressure, high cholesterol and depression are the most common — plan sponsors think just 32 per cent do.
“So there certainly is a split in the reality and what plan sponsors are perceiving is going on in the workforce,” said Lisa Callaghan, assistant vice-president of product and group benefits at Manulife and a member of the survey advisory board, at an event in Toronto on June 14 to discuss the report.
However, employers did admit they don’t have a good grasp of the effects of chronic disease on the workplace: 70 per cent would like to understand them better, a figure that jumps to 83 per cent among employers with administrative services only plans.
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“There’s a really strong correlation between understanding the impact of chronic disease and supporting productivity, but these results point to a big gap in understanding,” said Lori Casselman, assistant vice-president of integrated health solutions at Sun Life Financial and a survey advisory board member.
More than a third (38 per cent) of employee respondents with chronic diseases report their conditions have made them miss work or made it harder for them to do their job. That number soars to 53 per cent among younger plan members, 52 per cent among employees unhappy with their jobs, and 62 per cent among plan members with depression.
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“Employers can use the help of insurers and consultants to help define the dollar impact when employees miss work or find it harder to do their work due to chronic disease,” said advisory board member Telena Oussoren, manager of benefits at Suncor. “For one thing, if we translate this into dollars, we can then use the information to maintain programs for chronic disease management.”
How do the 2016 results compare to related questions five years ago?
Nearly half (45 per cent) of employee respondents to Sanofi’s 2011 survey said they regularly took at least one drug for a chronic disease, and 81 per cent said they always took their medications as prescribed. The findings, the 2011 advisory board noted, were “a good example of how consumers may overestimate their positive behaviours.”
Plan sponsors surveyed for the 2011 report said employees with chronic conditions such as mental-health problems, cancer and diabetes needed more support. Nevertheless, board members noted the importance of balancing support for those with chronic disease and “trying to keep the healthy people healthy.”
Read more findings from the 2016 Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey