Each month, "The Balance Sheet" provides questions and answers from experts on a topic that's important to you as a manager. Please feel free to share this information with other colleagues who also manage people.
Q. What is presenteeism and why has it become such a popular term in the workplace?
A. Presenteeism describes the phenomenon of coming to work while physically or emotionally ill only to experience a reduction in effectiveness and productivity. Coming to work with a common cold and being unable to perform at par is a simple example. Another example is working while experiencing burnout or after a traumatic event. The concern over presenteeism increases during economic recessions because fear of job loss may push employees to come to work when they otherwise would stay home. There are many indirect consequences of presenteeism. They include lost productivity, passing the illness to others, increased absenteeism, morale problems and coworker conflicts. Not feeling well enough to work but still coming to work costs employers billions of dollars each year. Talk to BJC EAP about presenteeism issues and how they may affect your work group.
Q. I know “presenteeism” refers to employees coming to work sick and being less productive, but it can be difficult to spot related job problems. How do supervisors intervene? Presenteeism is not a new concept, but I have only seen it mentioned in the past ten years or so.
A. Presenteeism is a relatively new term, but it is essentially a modernized version of what in the past has been referred to as “on-the-job absenteeism.” Although presenteeism is an interesting topic for discussion, attempting to identify who is affected by it is more difficult. It is better to avoid the technical aspects of this syndrome and instead focus on what you can document in your pursuit of helping your employees maximize their productivity and job satisfaction. Presenteeism typically refers to employees being at work while sick, but it also has been used to describe almost any nonproductive activity of employees on the job, no matter what the underlying reason might be. If you stay aware of behaviors that demonstrate an employee is either not performing competently or is lacking motivation for required tasks, presenteeism may exist. BJC EAP can consult with you about presenteeism and intervention.
Q. What is “on-the-job absenteeism” when the term is used to describe the behavior of a troubled employee?
A. On-the-job absenteeism (or “presenteeism”) describes the inability of a troubled employee to respond adequately to the demands of the job because of personal problems that cause distraction and absentmindedness, or complete absence from the job site or position, despite being officially present, or earlier seen at work. Lack of attention causing diminished capacity to respond to important key elements of the position are also sometimes considered on-the-job absenteeism. If on-the-job absenteeism exists, be sure to include it in your documentation when making a supervisor referral to BJC EAP. It has significant importance in the EAP assessment interview, can give the EAP consultant important clues and can prompt key questions that point to the nature of personal problems affecting an employee.