New research sheds light on presenteeism
Apr 15, 2022
Dublin [Ireland], April 15 : Employees who are unwell only engage in 'presenteeism' -- continuing to work when experiencing ill-health -- when they have not met their daily work goals, according to a new study.
The study was published in the journal, 'Journal of Occupational Health'.
Researchers have also found that working on a day when you feel ill drains mental energy which cannot be recovered the next day.
The study sought to shed further light on the phenomenon of 'presenteeism' -- defined by the researchers as continuing to work when experiencing ill-health.
The practice has been labeled an '800-pound gorilla' by researchers in occupational health psychology because of the tremendous costs it inflicts on employees and organizations alike. These costs include burnout, impaired workability, and productivity loss.
This study deepened our understanding of the harmful impact of presenteeism on employee effectiveness by demonstrating that depletion of mental resources is a key mechanism responsible for these harmful effects.
The research involved 126 employees logging their daily productivity across 12 workdays, resulting in 995 daily work observations. It was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 when all participants were working from home.
Wlad Rivkin, an Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour and Work Psychology said, "It is crucial to tackling daily presenteeism, especially for remote workers. Managers should openly discourage presenteeism by reassuring team members that if they feel unwell it is acceptable to reduce their daily work goals and instead tend to their health. In light of the energy-depleting nature of presenteeism if employees engage in presenteeism they should work on tasks that are inherently pleasant rather than tedious tasks that further drain their energy."
"So, while it may seem a good idea to work despite ill health to deliver on work goals our research shows that this has a knock-on effect on remote workers' performance on the next day as presenteeism drains employees' psychological energy, which cannot be fully recovered after work," he added.
The full paper was entitled "Should I stay or should I go? The role of daily presenteeism as an adaptive response to perform at work despite somatic complaints about employee effectiveness."
