Improving Health and Reducing Absence Days at Work: Effects of a Mindfulness- and Skill-Based Leadership Intervention on Supervisor and Employee Sick Days

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) at the workplace have attracted increasing interest due to their positive effects on health and work-related outcomes. However, it is unclear whether these effects translate into reductions in cost-related and objectively assessed outcomes, such as sick days. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an MBP for supervisors on reduction of sick days of both supervisors and their employees. Method We conducted a quasi-experimental study comparing the effects of a 3-day MBP for supervisors to a passive control cohort based on propensity score matching. Sick days for supervisors (n = 13 in the MBP group; n = 269 in the control group) and their employees (n = 196 in the MBP group; n = 1352 in the control group) were drawn directly from their health insurance records over 4 years; 2 years before (pre) and 2 years after (post) the start of the intervention. A generalized linear model was used to analyze sick days after the intervention, adjusted for pre-intervention sick days. Results Supervisors in the MBP condition showed significantly lower nonspecific (general) sick days (M = 13.9 days) compared to their matched controls at post-intervention (M = 32.9 days, χ2[1] = 4.38, p = 0.036, d=0.47). Sensitivity analyses showed that this effect was driven mainly by an increase in sick days in the control group. At the employee level, both specific and nonspecific sick days did not differ significantly between the MBP and control conditions. Conclusions Our results indicate that MBPs for supervisors at the workplace have the potential to positively affect their nonspecific sick days. Although these effects did not occur at the employee level, the data provide a first indication that MBPs offered at the workplace might be cost-effective. Preregistration The study was preregistered at the German Register of Clinical Studies (DRKS-ID: DRKS00013635).