Managing office worker presenteeism by providing financial aid for acupuncture therapy: a pragmatic multicenter randomized comparative study

To evaluate whether financial aid for acupuncture therapy is beneficial for non-manufacturing job workers (office workers) who are aware of reduced job performance due to health issues (presenteeism), a four-wk pragmatic multicenter randomized controlled trial was conducted with office workers who were aware of their presenteeism. The control group only implemented the workplace-recommended presenteeism measures, whereas the intervention group received financial aid for acupuncture therapy of up to 8,000 JPY (Japanese yen) in addition to implementing the presenteeism measures recommended by each workplace. The major outcome measure was the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire relative presenteeism score. A total of 203 patients were assigned to the intervention (n=103) and control (n=108) groups. The intervention group underwent a median of 1.0 (interquartile range [IQR], 1.0 to 2.0) sessions of acupuncture for neck disorders (64%), back disorders (16%), and depressed mood/anxiety/irritation (5%), among others. Results showed that the intervention group had slightly better job performance than the control group (effect size [r]=0.15, p=0.03). Financial aid for acupuncture therapy may help compensate for losses incurred by enterprises in the form of 14,117 JPY per worker a month.