Identifying and Addressing Presenteeism in the Workplace

What is Presenteeism? 

There has been a lot of talk about the great resignation, but there are issues affecting workers in the workforce such as presenteeism, quiet quitting and productivity theater that should be addressed and relate to employee performance, engagement, and effort.

Presenteeism is when an employee is working, but not performing at their fullest capacity due to various factors such as being sick. This is different from absenteeism, in which an employee is simply not at work. 

How is Presenteeism Different from Quiet-Quitting or Productivity Theater?

Quiet quitting is the new term for a concept that HR has been using for some time called Discretionary Effort. Discretionary Effort describes the effort that an employee chooses to do above and beyond the minimum expectations. I’ve also heard this called “coasting.” 

Productivity theater refers to the work that an employee chooses to do to “look productive.”  Workaholics can also be classified in this category.   

What are the Main Causes of Presenteeism? How Can Managers Engage Employees When They Notice Signs of Presenteeism?

There are many causes of presenteeism that include factors related to the individual, their environment and the organization for which they work. Individual factors include employee disengagement due to stress or burnout, their struggle with a short-term or long-term physical condition, challenges with mental health or family caregiving responsibilities. Presenteeism is not an uncommon behavior in the workplace. According to research published by BMC Public Health, studies have shown that more than 60 percent of employees have attended work while sick.

Managers can have a lot of impact on presenteeism. They not only need to know how to identify when presenteeism is occurring, but they also need to know what steps to take to help reduce it in the workplace.

An engaged workforce is one of the best combatants to presenteeism, and a manager has a significant impact on an employee’s engagement level. Employees who feel they have higher well being feel 88 percent engaged at work versus those who feel they have lower well being (50 percent).

Managers can engage employees by building trust, asking questions, and creating a safe space to share observations. The relationship between a manager and an employee is pivotal in understanding changes in performance.

How Do You Identify Presenteeism in Workers? What are Some of the Signs?

A manager’s approach and influence can have a lot of impact on their team members’ presence and presenteeism at work. Managers not only need to identify when an employee may be showing signs of presenteeism, but also know how to reduce presenteeism in the workplace.

Some signs of presenteeism include employees working when they are not feeling well, playing down their illness or injury, never bringing forth extra effort or going beyond the minimum expectation, having few ideas to move the business forward, a performance change in volume or quality of work, lack of engagement, reporting late and/or leaving early and perhaps clocking in a lot of hours but being less productive. 

Tips for Managers:

• Engage your employees by initiating regular conversations with them to discuss work and their wellbeing. This enables you to develop rapport with your employees to understand what may be the underlying causes of their presenteeism.
• Offer flexibility when possible to address challenges with physical or mental health.
• Be sure your organization is providing adequate sick time or PTO.
• Model behaviors you want to see in your team – take time off when you are not feeling well.
• Let go of micro-managing team members.
• Managers should lead by example with a healthy work-life balance. Make time for physical activity and wellbeing so that you can best support your team.

What are Some of the Effects of Presenteeism and What Can it Lead To?

Presenteeism not only impacts an employee’s productivity, but the morale and productivity of their teammates. Presenteeism can lead to safety issues and can contribute to the spread of infectious diseases or lead to greater illness. And, when employees are not productive, this can lead to missed deadlines, errors, a reduction in work quality, and poor customer experiences, which can ultimately impact a company’s overall success. 

What Can Employers and HR Departments Do to Reduce or Even Prevent Presenteeism?

• Review your absence management policy. Is it inadvertently contributing to presenteeism? Have you recently benchmarked your absence policy? 
• Is employee engagement one of your focus areas? An engaged workforce is a productive workforce, helping the business to thrive and progress. 
• Consider offering flexible work schedules. Do you have the systems and policies in place to allow flexibility? For employees struggling with a physical or mental health condition, a flexible work schedule can make a huge difference in their engagement and discretionary effort.  
• Create feedback loops to understand the challenges that your employees and managers are facing so that you can best support them with benefits and programs.
• If it’s not already there, put employee well-being and mental health at or near the top of your list. Research shows 96 percent of CEOs believe their companies are doing enough for employee mental health, yet only 69% of employees agree. Ensure you have a strong employee accommodation program. Do employees and managers know what to do when they need or receive an accommodation request?  
• Focus on the results and real impact your employees are making.

What is the Cost of Presenteeism?

There are no recent studies on the cost of presenteeism. However, a 2020 Deloitte study found that mental health affecting turnover, absenteeism, and presenteeism in the workplace cost the UK economy L53-46 billion. Since presenteeism is closely tied to employee disengagement, another statistic to consider is from Gallup research showing that decreased productivity of employees who are not engaged cost their company the equivalent of 18% of their annual salary and productivity among highly engaged teams is 14% higher than that of teams with the lowest engagement.

Are There HR Tools Available to Help Managers Re-Engage Workers?

1. Incorporate behavioral health into company mission and values.
2. Design benefits offering to include input from managers and employees.
3. Make behavioral health benefits visible and accessible, especially EAPs.
4. Equip leaders and managers with behavioral health training and resources.
5. Implement formal stay-at-work and return-to-work programs.
6. Communicate that accommodations are available, and who to contact. Consider creative accommodations.
7. Create a forum for managers to discuss employee engagement and the strategies they are using to combat presenteeism.

For managers, it’s never too late to start having regular conversations with employees, even if they’ve worked for you for a long time. With the changes that have happened in our workforce, social unrest and the pandemic, employees need support now more than ever.

Brenda Smith is the Senior Director, Workplace Possibilities at The Standard. Her insights into the benefits world and background in customer experience led her to work with the Workplace Possibilities team in 2014, where she is now the senior director of the program. In this role, Brenda helps insurance advisors implement the Workplace Possibilities program with employers and oversees a large team of return-to-work, Americans with Disabilities Act consultants, and Absence consultants.

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