Lifestyle habits of the IT employees in Bengaluru contributing to productivity loss of $3.5 B every year: survey

The survey revealed lifestyle habits to be a key contributor to productivity loss to the tune of $3.5 billion every year. Here are the findings. 

Research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting has revealed in a study that health and lifestyle habits of employees result in productivity loss worth $3.5 billion (Rs 24,000 crore) to the IT sector in Bengaluru every year, which is around seven percent the IT sector’s total revenue ($50 billion) in the city.

This productivity loss is attributed to five key risk factors: Physical Inactivity, Emotional & Mental Health, Physical Health, Poor Diet and Substance Abuse.

Physical inactivity and emotional & mental health contribute to 50 percent of total cost due to productivity loss, while physical health, poor diet and substance abuse make up the rest, the study reveals.

Employees in the age group of 30-40 years of age contribute to the highest share i.e. 42 percent of the total cost to IT sector due to productivity loss. This age group constitutes 35 percent of the workforce in IT sector in Bengaluru, but while employees in the age group of 20-30 years constitute 50 percent of the IT workforce, they contribute to only around 30 percent of total cost due to productivity loss.

This may be due to the fact that employees in the age group of 30-40 years of age have higher share of loss due physical health and employees in the age group of 20-30 years of age have higher share of loss due to the poor diet of employees, according to RedSeer's research, which is based on a survey of 500 employees across 10 leading IT companies in Bengaluru and which includes 20,000 data points.

“The biggest finding of the report is contribution of 'emotional and mental health' to the loss of productivity. We believe that companies should take initiatives to help employees reduce mental stress through specific programmes that will reflect in higher productivity,” Ujjwal Chaudhry, Associate Director, RedSeer Consulting, said in the report.