Diabetes and job performance: an empirical investigation

There are approximately 11 million people in the United States with diabetes, and the numbers are increasing by 6% annually. Still, the relationship between diabetes and job performance remains unclear and marked by bias. To help clarify this relationship, a multicriterion job-performance rating scale was developed to rate task behaviors, interpersonal behaviors, down-time behaviors, and hazardous behaviors. A volunteer sample of 53 subjects was selected from people with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). All subjects were rated individually by a supervisor, who also rated the norm for the work group. The norm rating was used to determine a norm-referenced control group. The subjects were rated better than the norm in all categories and on all criteria: composite job performance (P < .001), task behaviors (P < .01), interpersonal behaviors (P < .01), down-time behaviors (P < .05), and hazardous behaviors (P < .001).