Productivity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated risk factors

Objective: This study aimed to investigate productivity loss during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify risk factors by examining indicators of work productivity loss in a population-based cohort in The Netherlands.

Methods: Longitudinal data from the Lifelines COVID-19 cohort were used, enriched with registry data from Statistics Netherlands. Data of N=11 462 workers were collected from 2020–2022. Productivity loss was mea­sured using four indicators: unemployment, sickness absence rate, loss of work hours, and loss of work quality. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the association between socioeconomic, health-, and work-related characteristics and the four indicators.

Results: Unemployment remained low (<0.5%) throughout the pandemic. In contrast, prevalence of sickness absence, reduction of work hours and work quality peaked at 8.7%, 15%, and 4.7%, respectively. Critical work was associated with higher odds of sickness absence and quality loss, but lower odds of unemployment and loss of hours. Younger age and recent COVID-19 were associated with higher odds of sickness absence, loss of work hours and quality. Chronic health conditions were associated with higher odds of sickness absence and quality loss. Having children was associated with lower odds of unemployment and loss of hours.

Conclusion: Despite low unemployment rates, productivity loss was observed at other indicators: sickness absence, loss of hours and quality. In addition, productivity was lost unequally among groups. When preparing for future crises, attention should be paid to broader indicators of productivity loss among different groups. Findings may help for offering targeted interventions to minimize losses in productivity and protect higher risk groups of workers.