Presenteeism has typically been examined in the
context of decreased productivity by employees coming to work sick. The term is considered the opposite of
absenteeism and has received a good deal of attention in the management and
human capital realm. Mostly,
presenteeism is considered when studying employees who come to work with the
intention of being productive, but cannot be because of illness. Lately, there has been attention given to
employees who come to the office well enough to work but do not because they
are engaging in personal business on the job.
Is this part of the new “work-life balance” paradigm as we blur the
lines between personal and professional lives?
How much has technology, flexplace/flextime, and amenities such as
on-site daycare or fitness centers created “borderless” divisions between work,
home, leisure? And, how much does your
organizational culture tolerate this in the name of employee satisfaction, employee
development, or innovation?
Tolerance for this work-life boundary crossing is
usually part of the organizational culture and rarely part of a formal
policy. This type of culture allows
employee autonomy to negotiate these boundaries. This is a culture that acknowledges,
respects, and even supports an employee’s life outside the office. Research shows allowing a certain amount of
presenteeism may be beneficial and indeed some human resource practices
acknowledge the need to assist employees in their work-life integration as
personal business could cross into the workday.
Studies show employees spending about one hour and
twenty minutes in an eight-hour workday engaged in non-work activities. Qualitative research suggests that non-work related
presenteeism may be due to convenience, time constraints, timing, or boredom. If individuals are engaging in these
activities on work time because of such things as boredom, then non-work related
presenteeism is indeed a human resources issue.
Presenteeism costs productivity and thus costs a
company money. Alternatively, what of
the employee who takes calls at home or after work hours? These might be the same employees who cross
work-life boundaries all day. Are they
practicing presenteeism in their home life?
Should it become an accepted cost of doing business? And is engaging in non-work related presenteeism
a necessary evil for achieving work-life balance? Is presenteeism the new paradigm for this
balance?
Let me know your organization’s tolerance for presenteeism.
FG
D’Abate, C. P. (2005). Working hard or hardly working:
A study of individuals engaging in personal business on the job. Human
Relations, 58(8), 1009–1032.
D’Abate, C. P. & Eddy, E. R. (2007).
Engaging in personal business on the job: Extending
the presenteeism construct. Human Resource Development Quarterly,
vol. 18, no. 3, Fall 2007.
