Dougal Sutherland: Umbrella Wellbeing Principal Psychologist on the economic costs of unwell workers pushing through episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 26, 2025 · 5 MIN

Dougal Sutherland: Umbrella Wellbeing Principal Psychologist on the economic costs of unwell workers pushing through

from Best of Business · host Newstalk ZB

New research reveals New Zealand businesses are losing billions of dollars a year as a result of unwell workers pushing through instead of taking time out to recover. In a new report by Umbrella Wellbeing, 'presenteeism' - when employees turn up to work while physically or mentally unwell - has been found to erode productivity and result in costly mistakes from staff. Umbrella Wellbeing Principal Psychologist Dougal Sutherland says 'presenteeism' creates significant costs for employers - but the data is difficult to track.  "It's very hard to count - but an estimate is that it's costing over $40 billion in lost productivity every year in New Zealand." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 26, 2025

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