00:00A team of health economists from Monash University have essentially counted the
00:07cost of different diseases and conditions on workforce productivity. They've looked
00:13at the impact of illness on people's ability to work and also looked at time
00:19off employment of paid employment and captured that as well. Now essentially
00:25they've developed this metric really to look at that hit in terms of ability to
00:29work but also to see where there could be benefits more broadly to the health
00:35system by investing in an early intervention where possible and also so
00:41that those impacts can indirectly then improve workforce productivity. The
00:46productivity index that they've created through their studies across a number of
00:51different diseases put breast cancer at the top of the list then acute myeloid
00:56leukemia closely followed by depression and other mental health illnesses.
01:02They also looked at chronic conditions that had made this list including the
01:08effects taking a hit on productivity including epilepsy, sleep apnea and both
01:14chronic and episodic migraines which affect one in three women. Now we spoke with
01:21Katie Thorpe from Western Sydney who's dealing with a metastatic breast
01:27cancer diagnosis and she shared her her workforce experiences.
01:31Work is such an important part of my life still it's obviously a necessity for things like paying my
01:38medical bills, being able to you know make the most of my life as it still remains but also have that sense of social connection
01:49connection and be able to you know continue to be an active part of a community and make
01:55sure that I'm checking in with people and talking about things that aren't
01:59related to cancer. It can become a pretty lonely and very isolated when you are in
02:07the cancer world and working and being a part of the workforce just allows me to
02:13still use my skills and feel like you know I'm still using that part of my brain.
02:19That was Katie Thorpe and just finally researchers really did highlight the impact of where
02:26possible where employers can provide flexible work conditions that really help boost
02:31workforce productivity for those living with chronic conditions.
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