Working While Ill Is Not Always Bad—Positive Effects of Presenteeism

Abstract

Presenteeism—going to work while ill—is a widespread phenomenon worldwide. Previous research has concentrated mainly on its negative effects. This study investigates the positive consequences of presenteeism derived from a comprehensive content model of presenteeism that was developed on the basis of negative effects. In a quantitative online-survey employees (N = 181) rated the degree of experienced or potential positive effects depending on whether they had worked while ill (75%) or not (25%) during the previous year. Results revealed that all postulated positive effects described in the content model were relevant. Most positive effects were rated significantly higher by participants who had shown presenteeism in comparison to those who had not. The positive effects significantly predicted presenteeism propensity (adjusted R2 = 0.20) for participants having shown presenteeism. In addition, an overall rating of positive effects was significantly related to presenteeism, however, to a lesser degree. Overall, the results demonstrate the applicability of the content model to positive effects of presenteeism. They point to the need for further investigation of them and their consideration for the management of presenteeism.

Understanding the Decision-Making Process Between Presenteeism and Absenteeism

“…Consideration of individual goals and their value to the individual also fits well with recently published literature that attendance behavior is used to achieve positive effects (e.g., Demerouti et al, 2009;Giaever et al, 2016;Van den Broeck et al, 2016;Whysall et al, 2018;Gerich, 2020;Karanika-Murray and Biron, 2020;Lohaus et al, 2021). This is noteworthy in that most studies addressing the consequences of presenteeism refer to its negative effects on the individuals' health (e.g., Bergström et al, 2009;Taloyan et al, 2012;Conway et al, 2014;Skagen and Collins, 2016), work performance and ability (e.g., Gustafsson and Marklund, 2011;Chen et al, 2021), or work attitudes (e.g., Karanika-Murray et al, 2015).…”

Sickness Presenteeism Among the Swedish Self-Employed During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…For instance, SP can be positive for individuals in that being committed to work can shift their attention away from illness (Miraglia and Johns, 2018 ). In a study investigating the positive consequences of SP (Lohaus et al, 2021 ), significant positive associations were found between SP and variables related to economic orientation, financial advantages, and participants' perception that their health benefited from working. When self-employed workers and their businesses are negatively affected by the pandemic, it is understandable that they are forced to try to find solutions for the company to survive.…”

Home-Based Telework and Presenteeism

“…This, however, is reasonable because decisions between sickness presence and sickness absence are only observable in individuals who faced health events. For sickness presence days, the question posed was “Approximately how many days did you work during the past 12 months even when your health state would have justified taking sick leave?.” Sickness absence days were covered by the following question: “Approximately how many days did you take sick leave during the past 12 months?” For both (sickness absence and sickness presence), responses of more than 60 days were excluded to avoid bias due to outliers and long-term sickness 19,23 . Based on those with sickness experience during the past year, the mean reported a number of sickness absence days was 5.54 (SD = 8.16) and the mean reported a number of sickness presence days was 5.74 (SD = 7.11).…”