Cost and return on investment of a work-family intervention in the extended care industry

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

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.