Job or workplace factors, such as job satisfaction, support from managers or feeling isolated will exert their own influence on productivity via mental and/or physical health. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Workplace productivity owes a lot to the health, both physical and mental, of its employees and the support the employer provides to employees.

That's according to a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Educational Medicine by researchers from Vitality Group, in partnership with Cambridge University and Charles University, which finds that health-related issues cause employees to lose the equivalent of 31.2 working days each year.

Among the factors considered in the survey were the influence of employees' lifestyle, commuting time, physical and mental health, well-being, and job and workplace environment on productivity levels. And when controlling for personal characteristics, the study finds, mental and physical health account for more than 84 percent of the direct effects on productivity loss.