Cost and return on investment of a work-family intervention in the extended care industry Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost and return on investment (ROI) of an intervention targeting work-family conflict (WFC) in the extended care industry.

METHODS: Costs to deliver the intervention during a group-randomized controlled trial were estimated, and data on organizational costs-presenteeism, health care costs, voluntary termination, and sick time-were collected from interviews and administrative data. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the intervention's impact on organizational costs. Combined, these results produced ROI estimates. A cluster-robust confidence interval (CI) was estimated around the ROI estimate.

RESULTS: The per-participant cost of the intervention was $767. The ROI was -1.54 (95% CI: -4.31 to 2.18). The intervention was associated with a $668 reduction in health care costs (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: This paper builds upon and expands prior ROI estimation methods to a new setting.

Dowd, W. N., Bray, J. W., Barbosa, C., Brockwood, K., Kaiser, D. J., Mills, M. J., ... Wipfli, B. (2017). Cost and return on investment of a work-family intervention in the extended care industry: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 59(10), 956-965. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001097