Image via WikipediaIn 1845 Dr. Hein rich Hoffman wrote "The story of fidgety Phillip," the story of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), a so called problem for children. What people do not realize is that when these kids grow up, ADHD (Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder)/ADD does not go away - it goes from disrupting class in school to losing nearly a month's worth of work - per year. Researchers at the Netherlands institute of Mental Health and Addiction, state that the lack of ability to concentrate can take 22 days of work away, which includes 8 additional absent days. One idea is for the employers to not only screen workers, but provide treatment for those who do live with ADHD. It makes sense to help those who are looking for employment.
7,075 people between the ages of 18 to 44 in 10 countries were interviewed by the researchers; the results showed an average of 3.5% were diagnosed as ADHD. In the US alone, research shows 4.5%, resulting in 28.3 days of lost work. While the US rates are high, France has the highest rate at 6.3%; in contrast the lost time was only 20.1 days.
While this may be a reason for lost days of work and lower productivity, what is the best way to “deal” with it? All too often, in this day and age, there are people who look for an excuse to take time off work and a reason for what is in actuality not wanting to work. It’s a tough call, if you do not help them, it’s discrimination – if you do help, and they are lying you are enabling.
Flip a coin and hope you are right.
I agree it is a tough call.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that concerns me in the study is the comment that companies can screen workers. Having worked in human resources, our job was to narrow down those not to interview rather than the other way around. I shudder at the idea of special tests developed with the idea of excluding those with mental health disorders.