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Hidden cost of presenteeism in the workplace | 3 min read

Presenteeism is often a mute topic when it comes to managing sickness absence in the workplace. The reasons for this are completely understandable; if, on the face of it, employees are at work, what could possibly be the issue? Below, we’ll explore the concept of presenteeism, how to identify it, why it is a problem, and what you can do to prevent it.

How do we define presenteeism?

Presenteeism describes when an employee continues to come to work despite being unwell, whether that be physically or mentally. This can lead to burn-out, spreading of sickness to colleagues and a reduction in morale.

Absence Management

Posted 17/01/2020

There are a number of reasons why employees continue to work when unwell. Often it’s because they’re concerned that time out of the business will further add to their workload, or they worry that in this fast-paced business world time out of work may be detrimental to their career. Whatever the reasons may be, it’s important organisations establish the root cause of why presenteeism is an issue and, like absence management, develop a positive strategy to address it.   

So how do organisations identify presenteeism in the first place?

Well, your organisational statistics might capture any reduction in productivity or efficiency, for a start. Remember to look for a dip in your short-term sickness absence stats too. A reduction in sickness absence is not always a positive, so don’t kid yourself!

Presenteeism may cause those same individuals to take extended periods of sick leave in the long-term as their condition worsens due to the limited recovery time taken and the associated pressure of their workload. It is therefore important to regularly look at both short-term and long-term absence statistics to monitor any emerging trends that may be of concern. 

How can organisations prevent presenteeism from becoming an issue?

More often than not, presenteeism manifests itself due to the underlying organisational culture. This in itself is a tricky one to fix quickly. However, there are some practical tips for organisations who may be experiencing challenges with presenteeism or simply want to put preventative measures in place to stop it ever becoming an issue: 

  • Focus on adopting a holistic wellbeing strategy that encourages all employees to take care of their own wellbeing. Ensure line managers are aware of what wellbeing support is available so they can advocate this to employees during team meetings or at ad-hoc check-ins.
  • Make presenteeism a topic for discussion alongside absence at leadership meetings. First and foremost, ensure each Line Manager understands what presenteeism is and ask them to be mindful of this when thinking about absence management within their own teams.  
  • Keep an eye on those working long hours on a consistent basis, make sure Line Manager’s are checking in with them and taking steps to re-distribute work or allowing them to take time out to re-coup once the deadline has passed.
  • Line Manager training on the subject of sickness absence is so important whilst also ensuring this training is refreshed on an annual basis. This will give Line Manager’s the tools they need to ensure they’re supporting their team and managing absence effectively - this will hopefully nip presenteeism in the bud before it becomes an issue.
  • The other side of the coin is around engagement. This is a complex area but it’s important for businesses to understand how engaged their employees are with the work they are doing. Organisations could run an anonymous engagement survey that explores areas such as line manager support, workload, reward/recognition and wellbeing. Some really useful insights can be gathered from the administration of an engagement survey so if there is a need to address the underlying organisational culture, running an engagement survey would be a great starting point.

There is little doubt that the business impact of presenteeism is considerable and can spiral quickly; organisations may experience a drop in productivity and a reduction in the quality of delivery.

The key recommendation for organisations is to consider presenteeism on an equal footing to absence. Both can be detrimental. However, presenteeism is much trickier to spot so using the right tools such as sickness analytics software like Access TeamSeer to monitor patterns of absence is an absolute must in order to stay in control.

Find out more about how absence management software like Access TeamSeer can help you monitor and control your staff absence patterns along with a host of other benefits.