Impact of noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs and worker productivity, Saudi Arabia

Background: The prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has been increasing in Saudi Arabia. Aim: Our objective was to estimate the effect of NCDs on direct medical costs and workforce productivity in Saudi Arabia. Methods: To estimate direct medical costs, we estimated the unit cost of treating 10 NCDs, then multiplied the unit cost by disease prevalence and summed across diseases. To estimate workforce productivity losses, we multiplied gross domestic product per person in the labour force by the loss in productivity from each NCD and the prevalence in the labour force of each NCD. Results: We estimated annual direct medical costs of 11.8 billion international dollars (Int$) for the 10 NCDs assessed (13.6% of total annual health expenditure). We estimated workforce productivity losses of Int$ 75.7 billion (4.5% of gross domestic product). Conclusion: The economic burden of NCDs in Saudi Arabia – particularly the effect on worker productivity – is substantial.

Health and Economic Consequences of Universal Paid Sick Leave Policies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Importance: Universal paid sick-leave (PSL) policies have been implemented in jurisdictions to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. However empirical data regarding health and economic consequences of PSL policies is scarce. Objective: To estimate effects of a universal PSL policy in Ontario, Canada's most populous province. Design: An agent-based model (ABM) to simulate SARS-CoV-2 transmission informed by data from Statistics Canada, health administrative sources, and from the literature. Setting: Ontario from January 1st to May 1st, 2021. Participants: A synthetic population (1 million) with occupation and household characteristics representative of Ontario residents (14.5 million). Exposure: A base case of existing employer-based PSL alone versus the addition of a 3- or 10-day universal PSL policy to facilitate testing and self-isolation among workers infected with SARS-CoV-2 themselves or because of infected household members. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): Number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations, worker productivity, lost wages, and presenteeism (going to a workplace while infected).

Knowledge-Worker Productivity in Defense Industry: The Role of Knowledge Management through Employees’ Adaptability and Job Satisfaction

This research aims to investigate the direct effect of knowledge management on knowledge-worker productivity and the indirect effect mediated by employees' adaptability and job satisfaction. The research was conducted at PT. Pindad (Persero) Malang as a specific knowledge-based manufacturing industry company. The research population is employees who work in the department that is closely related to the knowledge of ammunition products. Furthermore, 203 employees became the research sample taken proportionally and randomly from the population using proportionate random sampling technique. The data analysis method was carried out using a structural equation modeling (SEM) model with a partial least square (PLS) approach. The results indicate that knowledge management has no significant effect on knowledge-worker productivity, but knowledge management has a significant effect on adaptability, and adaptability has a significant effect on knowledge-worker productivity. Knowledge management also has a significant effect on job satisfaction, and job satisfaction also has a significant effect on knowledge-worker productivity. Thus, adaptability and job satisfaction have a full mediating role on the effect of knowledge management on knowledge-worker productivity. This research contributes fill the research gap on the influence of knowledge management on knowledge-worker productivity with the presence of adaptability and job satisfaction as a mediating variable.

Workplace ergonomic assessment pada komunitas pekerja internet marketing society

Regular use of computers in the workspace contributes to suffering from many risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Ergonomic principles is a determining factor of comfort and increased worker productivity at work. Ergonomics is also very important for workers who use computers. Working with computers is at high risk of suffering from a variety of complaints, including having the three biggest risk factors: back posture, repetition, and static strength. Preventive measures can minimize the negative impact of the main risks above. The purpose of this study is to assess and measure the ergonomics of the Internet Marketing Society's workplace workers. This service research uses observational methods from survey results with questionnaires distributed via google form. The total sampling is 33 workers from the Internet Marketing Society. The results show that 54.5% of workers do not know about ergonomics, 75.8% of workers do not use wrist and arm support devices. In the complaint problem, most of the workers experienced muscle pain 27.3% and back pain 24.2%, and 24.2% workers experienced shoulder conditions that were not relaxed while working. Based on these results, it is concluded that workers need to implement the principles of K3 and ergonomics in their work while working with computers.

Intrinsic Workforce Diversity and Construction Worker Productivity in Pakistan: Impact of Employee Age and Industry Experience

Worker productivity is critical within construction projects as it is the measure of the rate at which work is performed and, more importantly, helps to know how to motivate them to perform at high levels. This research aimed to examine the impact of employee age and industry experience on the intrinsic workforce diversity factors influencing construction worker productivity. Sieving through the previous research and models and theories of analysis, the intrinsic workforce diversity was modeled into the following set of factors, i.e., income, motivation, psychosocial factors, and technical skills. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey and examined for the employees having different ages and experiences using the Mann–Whitney U test through SPSS. The results show that employees of varied ages do not concur over motivation-, psychosocial, and technical skills-related workforce diversity factors, whereas employees of varied industrial experiences are in disagreement over some income and motivation related workforce diversity factors. In order to overcome intrinsic workforce diversity, firm support is direly needed for old and mature employees in terms of financial incentives leading to motivation, less supervised scheduling, opportunities for firm advancement, and reporting back every time work is completed. Furthermore, support is required for young employees who are more susceptible due to psychosocial stresses like unevenly distributed work, communication gaps, and technical skills like knowledge of technological equipment and advancement in construction technology which has reduced the skills of workers.

Increased labor losses and decreased adaptation potential in a warmer world

Working in hot and potentially humid conditions creates health and well-being risks that will increase as the planet warms. It has been proposed that workers could adapt to increasing temperatures by moving labor from midday to cooler hours. Here, we use reanalysis data to show that in the current climate approximately 30% of global heavy labor losses in the workday could be recovered by moving labor from the hottest hours of the day. However, we show that this particular workshift adaptation potential is lost at a rate of about 2% per degree of global warming as early morning heat exposure rises to unsafe levels for continuous work, with worker productivity losses accelerating under higher warming levels. These findings emphasize the importance of finding alternative adaptation mechanisms to keep workers safe, as well as the importance of limiting global warming.

Mobile Gamification Applied to Employee Productivity in Companies: A Systematic Review

The main goal of this article is to identify the use of gamified mobile applications and their impact on work productivity. We employ a systematic review of the literature to discover to what extent gamified mobile applications improve worker productivity within a company. The intent is to contribute to more profound understanding of learning contexts, methodologies, techniques and objectives with the application of mobile gamification. The literature emphasizes that mobile gamification can be used to enhance the learning process, improve performance and achieve worker objectives, especially in production and IT areas. To do this, an analysis is presented of the areas that use mobile gamification, the techniques used and the effects that are achieved with its application in companies. It seeks to close the knowledge gap by quantifying the gamification characteristics found in applications. Due to the paucity of studies on mobile gamification at work productivity, this work also points the way to new research.

A Soft Systems Approach to Knowledge Worker Productivity: A Purposeful Activity Model for the Individual

This research attempted to find and define holistic systems that affect the productivity of the knowledge worker (KW), using the soft systems methodology (SSM). It is not enough to look at the management and improvement of knowledge worker productivity (KWP) from the viewpoint of the organization. The viewpoint of the individual KW needs to be considered as well. The KW owns the means of production; they carry their knowledge in their heads and take it with them when changing jobs. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that describes the process in which the KW uses resources to execute actions to create tangible or intangible artifacts with the intention of generating value. It was based on interpretations and inferences made from an extensive literature review using the snowballing method. This paper highlights what implications the lessons learned from the conceptual framework have on managing and improving KWP and delves deeper into four key concepts: value in knowledge work, knowledge, personal resources, and competencies.