ADHD and Productivity

 

Have You Heard?

I’m not sure whether or not you have heard, but there has been a recent study with some interesting findings.  This study measured the productivity of workers in 10 different countries, the only ones that study and measure the impact of ADHD as a condition.

This groudbreaking study is going to be the beginning of a lot of conversations surrounding the issue of ADHD in adults.  Why?  Because the findings of this study have long-reaching implications. 

They looked at the productivity levels and missed work of 7,000 people in 10 different countries.  What did they find?

Workers with ADHD tend to have 22 more days of missed productivity at work than their non-ADHD counterparts.

So, who exactly did they talk to?  And what exactly did they find out?

Employed and self-employed workers aged 18 – 44 were screened for ADHD as part of the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative in Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA.

They asked the workers about their time lost over the previous month, and worked the numbers to come up with annual figures.  Here’s what the numbers showed:

Workers with ADHD were found to take an average of eight days off sick each year.

They also had, on average, 21 days where they did less work than they should have and 13 days where their work was of poorer quality – each of which was deemed to equate to half a day of lost performance.

ADHD was more prevalent in men and workers in developed rather than developing countries.

Add to this the fact that we already know workers with ADHD make less money and tend to have more jobs than those without, and employers are likely to start taking a closer look at their employees with ADHD.

All of these numbers have fascinating implications for the workplace, whether you are an employee, employer, or both (as in the case of the self-employed).  I don’t think all of the repercussions from this study have been seen yet, but they will.

Here are some questions this brings up for me:

• Have they studied the effects of raising a child with ADHD on a worker’s productivity?
• How many more absences do kids with ADHD have than kids without?
• How will they keep this information from being used to stigmatize adults, and children for that matter?
• How much of these are due to increased illness (from running and not taking a break, hence weakening our immune system) or taking care of our ADHD kids?

Let me know your thoughts on these, and other questions it brings up. 

Just something to think about.

Until next time…

~Tracy