A study of a work site health promotion program and absenteeism

This paper reports on a study of the absenteeism experience of two groups of Johnson & Johnson employees over a 3-year period. Employees at four company sites (n = 1406) where LIVE FOR LIFE, a comprehensive health promotion program, had been introduced, were compared with employees at five company sites (n = 487) without the health promotion program. Analyses of covariance were employed to control for differences between the two study groups with respect to age, gender, job classification (wage or salaried), as well as baseline levels of absenteeism. Adjusted mean levels of absenteeism among wage earners in the LIVE FOR LIFE groups were found to decline over the study period, and were significantly lower (P less than .01) than mean levels for the non-LIVE FOR LIFE wage employees in the final year of the study. No significant differences were found for salaried personnel.