Chances are migraine headaches are pretty far down on the list, if you included it at all. But perhaps it should be a higher priority for employee education and risk-management.

An estimated 28 million Americans are afflicted by recurrent migraines. Some projections place the annual indirect cost to U.S. employers at $13 billion. That’s debatable, but there’s no doubt that an employee with a migraine is probably not too productive.

Mixed news

A study by HSM Group concludes that people who suffer from chronic migraines miss on average one day of work every three months.

Even when they come to work, employees admit they have virtually zero productivity on days they have flare-ups. Depending on how successfully the migraine is treated, the attacks can last four to 72 hours.

But there is good news. It’s gotten easier to pinpoint your company’s risk and raise awareness among employees most likely to be migraine sufferers:

• Females are higher risk than males. Stats show 18% of women get frequent migraines, versus 6.5% of men. Female sufferers also tend to get more flare-ups; they occur nearly eight days every three months, and
• Age is another key factor. The most likely sufferers are age 30 to 49.

It’s also possible to put a dollar figure on your own company’s risk that’s more meaningful than the national estimate. A free migraine cost calculator – which takes into account company size, gender mix and age breakdown – is available here.

Best practices

Migraines are a tailor-made topic for targeted educational mailings to high-risk employees, articles in your benefits newsletter and for inclusion in a disease/care management program.

The odds of success are good. Unlike other health issues, migraines are fairly easily treated. Education pieces can focus on recognizing common triggers for attacks:

• lack of food or sleep
• anxiety or stress, and
• hormonal changes for women.

First, let’s get the title complete and accurate. It’s “Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No schedules, no meetings, no joke … the simple change that can make your job terrific.”

Ressler and Thompson run a business-consulting firm that promises to make your workplace a better, happier, more productive treadmill.

The authors’ biggest criticism of the traditional workplace can be summed up in one buzzword: “presenteeism” – the idea that a person’s worth to the company can be judged by measuring the amount of time that person spends in a workplace cubicle. It plays on the old Woody Allen chestnut: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

In other words, the traditional, and misguided, key to getting ahead is to show up early, leave late, and not do much in between.

The authors argue for a results-oriented environment in which people are rewarded for what they produce, and its quality, rather than how much time they put in.

The case study
There’s the mandatory case study to prove the authors’ point. This one’s about Best Buy, the electronics retailer that reportedly increased productivity by 35% and lowered turnover. (Not that Best Buy has a monopoly on know-nothing help, but the story leaves us wondering how you increase productivity among 20-year-old clerks who appear to be starting with zero.)

Anyway, here are the key moves suggested by the authors:

• Employees have the freedom to work any way they want
• Employees have an unlimited amount of paid time off, as long as work gets done
• Employees should not be overworked
• Every meeting should be optional
• No work schedules should be imposed
• There should be no judgment about how you spend your time

Would it work?
All of it sounds good, especially if you like to play golf. And certainly few people (other than business owners) would argue against more freedom to get the job done in your own way and in your own timeframe.

Would it work for you? A lot depends on your business. For instance, if customers expect you to be at their disposal 24/7, it’s hard to imagine they’d be OK with the “I’ll be there when I want to be there” mindset.

And just make sure you don’t get caught reading this book at work.