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We've reported recently on presenteeism (including here, here, and here). Today we have additional insights, particularly focusing on the costs of presenteeism and viewing health as a form of human capital.

Sean Sullivan is co-founder, President and CEO of the Institute for Health and Productivity Management — a global enterprise working with employers to improve their employees' health and maximize its impact on business performance.

Sullivan was interviewed on the idea that “health and productivity management is emerging as the only health delivery model that can maximize employers' return on their investment in workers' health.” The conversation occurred nearly 10 years ago, but the points ring clear even today.

Comments include:

• “Presenteeism is a concept that tries to capture people's loss of functionality at work because they have a health problem… Presenteeism means you're there [at work], but you're not really there. Part of you is missing because of a health issue.”
• Costs are a major impact of presenteeism, especially for a “knowledge worker.” He continued: “For a lot of us who work on computers… we may be at work, so to speak, but we may be suffering… It’s costing us quality of work, output of work, and costing us in a lot of ways that are not being measured very well right now.”
• “There has to be a better way of accounting for the value of knowledge base and of health in making people productive over a long period of time.”

Watch the entire interview here: