Volume 26, Number 1—January 2020
CME ACTIVITY - Research
Paid Leave and Access to Telework as Work Attendance Determinants during Acute Respiratory Illness, United States, 2017–2018
, Sara Kim, Mary Patricia Nowalk, Jennifer P. King, Jeffrey J. VanWormer, Manjusha Gaglani, Richard K. Zimmerman, Todd Bear, Michael L. Jackson, Lisa A. Jackson, Emily Martin, Caroline Cheng, Brendan Flannery, Jessie R. Chung, and Amra Uzicanin
Table 1
Characteristics associated with having access to telework and paid leave benefits among working adults with medically attended acute respiratory illness or influenza, United States, 2017–18 influenza season*
| Characteristic | Access to telework |
Paid leave benefits |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, n = 198 | No, n = 1,164 | Yes, n = 1,074 | No, n = 282 | ||
| Age, y, median (5th, 95th percentile) |
43 (25, 61) |
41 (22, 61) |
43§ (24, 61) |
36 (20, 60) |
|
| Sex | |||||
| F | 119 (60) | 756 (65) | 695 (65) | 175 (62) | |
| M |
79 (40) |
408 (35) |
379 (35) |
107 (38) |
|
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 157 (79)† | 956 (82) | 878 (82) | 229 (81) | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 9 (5) | 50 (4) | 46 (4) | 11 (4) | |
| Other race, non-Hispanic | 25 (13) | 83 (7) | 89 (8) | 23 (8) | |
| Hispanic, any race |
7 (4) |
72 (6) |
58 (5) |
19 (7) |
|
| Education | |||||
| Some college or less | 45 (23)§ | 652 (56) | 502 (47)§ | 188 (67) | |
| Bachelor’s or advanced degree |
153 (77) |
509 (44) |
571 (53) |
92 (33) |
|
| Current smoker | |||||
| Yes | 11 (6) ‡ | 148 (13) | 102 (10)§ | 59 (21) | |
| No |
186 (94) |
1,009 (87) |
965 (90) |
222 (79) |
|
| General health before illness | |||||
| Excellent or very good | 144 (73) | 794 (68) | 743 (69) | 188 (67) | |
| Good | 44 (22) | 308 (27) | 282 (26) | 71 (25) | |
| Fair or poor |
10 (5) |
60 (5) |
48 (4) |
22 (8) |
|
| Fever/feverishness during illness | |||||
| Yes | 128 (65) | 742 (64) | 694 (65) | 172 (61) | |
| No |
70 (35) |
422 (36) |
380 (35) |
110 (39) |
|
| Medical conditions associated with higher risk of influenza complications¶ | |||||
| Yes | 93 (47) | 586 (50) | 545 (51) | 134 (48) | |
| No |
105 (53) |
578(50) |
529 (49) |
148 (52) |
|
| Received influenza vaccine since July 1, 2017 | |||||
| Yes | 101 (51) | 597 (51) | 604 (56)§ | 90 (32) | |
| No |
97 (49) |
567 (49) |
470 (44) |
192 (68) |
|
| Children <12 y of age in household | |||||
| 0 | 136 (69) | 772 (66) | 713 (66) | 192 (68) | |
| 1 | 33 (17) | 195 (17) | 180 (17) | 47 (17) | |
| >2 |
29 (15) |
196 (17) |
180 (17) |
43 (15) |
|
| Worked the day before illness# | |||||
| Yes | 124 (65) | 741 (65) | 689 (65) | 177 (64) | |
| No |
68 (35) |
405 (35) |
366 (35) |
100 (36) |
|
| Paid leave benefits | |||||
| Yes | 164 (85)† | 900 (78) | NA | NA | |
| No |
30 (15) |
250 (22) |
NA |
NA |
|
| Access to telework | |||||
| Yes | NA | NA | 164 (15)† | 30 (11) | |
| No |
NA |
NA |
900 (85) |
250 (89) |
|
| Employees are discouraged from coming to work when they have influenza-like symptoms** | |||||
| Agree | 152 (78) | 833 (72) | 797 (75)‡ | 186 (66) | |
| Not agree |
44 (22) |
327 (28) |
271 (25) |
95 (34) |
|
| Employees are encouraged to go home if they have influenza-like symptoms at work** | |||||
| Agree | 165 (84)‡ | 865 (75) | 838 (79)§ | 188 (67) | |
| Not agree |
31 (16) |
293 (25) |
229 (21) |
92 (33) |
|
| I have a lot of control over when I can take days off from work for illnesses** | |||||
| Agree | 171 (87)§ | 753 (65) | 766 (72)§ | 152 (54) | |
| Not agree |
25 (13) |
403 (35) |
298 (28) |
129 (46) |
|
| Full-time worker | |||||
| Yes | 182 (92)‡ | 983 (84) | 987 (92)§ | 173 (61) | |
| No |
16 (8) |
181 (16) |
87 (8) |
109 (39) |
|
| Employee type | |||||
| Hourly | 34 (18)§ | 761 (66) | 556 (52)§ | 236 (84) | |
| Salaried or other |
159 (82) |
397 (34) |
509 (48) |
44 (16) |
|
| Executive, administrator, or senior manager position (if salaried) | |||||
| Yes | 44 (30) | 109 (29) | 141 (29) | 12 (44) | |
| No |
105 (70) |
263 (71) |
352 (71) |
15 (56) |
|
| No. employees in organization | |||||
| <99 | 62 (34) | 315 (30) | 232 (24)§ | 143 (58) | |
| 100–499 | 29 (16) | 181 (17) | 172 (18) | 37 (15) | |
| >500 |
89 (49) |
552 (53) |
573 (59) |
67 (27) |
|
| Study site | |||||
| Michigan | 38 (19)§ | 83 (7) | 97 (9)§ | 26 (9) | |
| Pennsylvania | 44 (22) | 257 (22) | 219 (20) | 81 (29) | |
| Texas | 20 (10) | 169 (15) | 150 (14) | 32 (11) | |
| Washington | 78 (39) | 295 (25) | 328 (31) | 46 (16) | |
| Wisconsin | 18 (9) | 360 (31) | 280 (26) | 97 (34) | |
*Values are no. (%) unless otherwise indicated. Boldface indicates statistical significance. Numbers may not sum to n because of missing data. NA, not applicable.
†p<0.05.
‡p<0.01.
§p<0.001.
¶Based on International Classification of Diseases codes in electronic medical records in the year before enrollment.
#Among those who worked the day before illness, the proportion who teleworked was 14% (17/124) for those with access to telework and 1% (5/741) for those without telework access (p<0.001). The proportion who teleworked was 3% (18/689) for those with access to paid leave and 2% (4/177) for those without access to paid leave. Among those who did not work the day before illness, the proportion who did not work because it was a day off was 81% (55/68) for those with telework access, and 83% (336/405) for those without telework access.
**”Strongly agree” and “agree” responses were coded as agree. “Strongly disagree,” “disagree,” and “neither agree nor disagree” responses were coded as not agree.
1Preliminary results from this study were presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, August 27–29, 2018, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.