Employers Urged to Consider the Risks of Presenteeism

Employers are being urged to consider the significant health and safety risks posed by sickness presenteeism and to establish cultural norms that encourage workers to take sick leave when they are ill.

Psychologists say the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in remote working arrangements are exacerbating these risks, and that employees should be encouraged to boundary-set and withdraw from work communications when off sick.

Dr Gail Kinman of the University of London and Dr Christine Grant of Coventry University said there was growing evidence that sickness presenteeism (continuing to work when unwell) is far more costly to businesses than absenteeism.

“Studies have also found that presenteeism can impair productivity and result in errors, accidents and injuries to the employee, their co-workers and the public. Moreover, the findings that people frequently continue to work while experiencing infectious diseases raise particularly serious concerns for public health during the current pandemic.”

Kinman and Grant said there was a wide range of personal, organisational and occupational factors have been found to influence people’s decisions about whether they should continue to work or take time off sick.

“People often engage in presenteeism as they are reluctant to ‘let down’ managers and burden colleagues, especially where staffing levels are low, or organisations are struggling to survive.”

“Employees may also continue to work during illness, or return to work too soon, as they believe that their managers and colleagues do not consider them sufficiently unwell to take time off sick.”

Presenteeism can also be endemic in workplace cultures that stigmatise sick leave and ‘normalise’ long working hours, and also in jobs with high workload pressure.

Employers are therefore urged to take a “long-term view” that balances concern about the immediate costs of sickness absence with a recognition of how sickness presenteeism can undermine the future health and functioning of employees during the pandemic and beyond.

“Managing presenteeism effectively is a long-term investment in the well-being of people and organisations. It is particularly important during the pandemic to ensure that employees remain healthy and can perform at their best.”

Kinman and Grant said it was possible that sickness presenteeism may become less acceptable, both socially and by organisations, due to fears of COVID-19 transmission and the need to take pre-emptive action for the collective good.

“As many employees are working at home for the foreseeable future, providing guidance on how to do so in a healthy and sustainable way is urgently required, with particular focus on boundary-setting and withdrawing from work communications when off sick.”

“Introducing more creative approaches to flexible working is also likely to be helpful, to enable staff to have more choice and control over their working patterns. People who can ‘self-schedule’ their working hours tend to report lower levels of presenteeism, and this can also help accommodate the limitations of people with long-term conditions.”

Read the full editorial here.