Development of the Health and Work Questionnaire (HWQ): An instrument for assessing workplace productivity in relation to worker health

Background. Workplace productivity evaluations often involve subjective assessments. This study was performed to develop and validate a new multidimensional instrument, the Health and Work Questionnaire (HWQ), for measuring workplace productivity and worker heath. Methods. In a prospective, non-randomized study, objective and subjective workplace productivity (measured with the HWQ) was assessed among 96 current, 94 former, and 104 non-smoking volunteer reservation agents at a US-based international airline. Results. Six HWQ sub-scales were identified from factor analyses: productivity, concentration/focus, supervisor relations, impatience/irritability, work satisfaction, and non-work satisfaction. Non-smokers (individuals who had never smoked) had higher scores on all scales. The HWQ scale scores all correlated significantly with the objective measure "Time Lost"; two of the scales correlated significantly with the summary objective performance measure. Magnitudes of the significant correlations were modest (0.12 to 0.22). Conclusions. The HWQ may be useful for evaluating the impact of interventions on workplace productivity. Additional validation research on the HWQ is recommended before use as a primary measure in studies of worker productivity.