Profiting from presenteeism? Effects of an enforced activation policy on firm profits

Abstract

Activation requirements and graded benefits are strategies for reducing social insurance costs in comprehensive welfare states. In Norway, a policy of issuing graded rather than full time sickness absence certificates, is viewed as a strategy not just to reduce direct costs of sick pay but also to facilitate returns to work and reduce inflows to permanent disability. This paper analyzes effects of graded sick leave on firm profits, on average and across different firm groups. A series of panel data models are formulated to estimate the effects of grading on firm profits. In these models, grading is found to mitigate the negative effects of sickness absence on firm profit. A one percentage point increase in full time sickness absence leads to a 1.7% reduction in return on assets relative to the sample mean; this negative effect is reduced by 70% when absence is graded. Effects are robust to inclusion of firm fixed effects as well as time-varying proxies for labor demand.

The health-performance framework of presenteeism: Towards understanding an adaptive behaviour

“…The health-performance framework of presenteeism ham, & MacGregor, 2007) and in this way helps to signal commitment to colleagues and the organization and create camaraderie within the workplace (Dew, Keefe, & Small, 2005). Finally, if presenteeism is approached as graded absence (for example working 40% of the time or to a lesser capacity during illness) it can also mitigate the high costs of sickness absence (Godøy, 2016). As Miraglia and Johns (2016: p. 16) observe, 'more research is needed to understand when going to work while ill can represent a sustainable choice, as in the case of a gradual recovery from long-term sickness, a self-affirming choice in the face of chronic illness, or being an example of citizenship behaviour'.…”

Evaluation of the association between presenteeism and perceived availability of social support among hospital doctors in Zhejiang, China

“…Financial factors mainly included the presence of a reward system for full attendance [7,57] and the participant's monthly salary [56,58]. Work-related factors included the number of years the participant had worked at the current hospital [12,16,59,60], their position ranking [61], their job title [16,59], weekly work hours [7], substitute availability [56,58], and their superior's leadership type [62]. All of these information was collected in Part 1.…”

Evaluation of the association between presenteeism and perceived availability of social support among hospital doctors in Zhejiang, China

“…15,57 Financial factors mainly included the presence of a reward system for full attendance 7,58 and the participant's monthly salary. 57,59 Workrelated factors included the number of years the participant had worked at the current hospital 12,16,60,61 , their position ranking 62 , their job title 16,60 , weekly work hours 7 , substitute availability 57,59 , and their superior's leadership type 63 . All of these information was collected in Part 1.…”