presenteeism
Sign in to saveAlso known as working while sick, sickness Presence
Presenteeism or working while sick is the act or culture of employees continuing to work as a performative measure, despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. Reduced productivity during presenteeism is often due to illness, injury, exhaustion, or other conditions, but presenteeism can also describe working while contagiously sick, which has the added risk of creating a workplace epidemic.
Research
2,624 papers- Sickness presenteeism at work: prevalence, costs and management.British medical bulletin · 2019
- Prevalence of Presenteeism in Agricultural Workers: Systematic Review.Workplace health & safety · 2023
- Total Health-Related Costs Due to Absenteeism, Presenteeism, and Medical and Pharmaceutical Expenses in Japanese Employers.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2018
- Nursing Staff Presenteeism Scale: Development and psychometric test.PloS one · 2024
- Sickness presenteeism, job burnout, social support and health-related productivity loss among nurses in the Chinese nurses' health cohort study (TARGET): A cross-sectional survey.International journal of nursing studies · 2025
via PubMed
~17 min read
Article
19 sectionsContents
- Construct validity
- Relationship with absenteeism
- Antecedents
- Temporary and permanent employment
- Occupations and work environments
- Ease of replacement
- Workloads and job demands
- Workaholism
- Performance-based self-esteem
- Health factors
- Consequences
- Productivity loss
- Poor health and exhaustion
- Workplace epidemics
- Measurement and impact on productivity
- Implications for practice
- Future directions and research
- See also
- References
Presenteeism or working while sick is the act or culture of employees continuing to work as a performative measure, despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. Reduced productivity during presenteeism is often due to illness, injury, exhaustion, or other conditions, but presenteeism can also describe working while contagiously sick, which has the added risk of creating a workplace epidemic.
Many different motives can lead to presenteeism. An employee may come to work because they simply need the money and cannot afford to take time off due to illness. Doctors may attend work while sick due to feelings of being irreplaceable. Additionally, one could go to work due to a love and devotion to the job; in this case, it could be considered an act of organizational citizenship and inspire admiration from colleagues. Other reasons include feeling that career prospects may be damaged if they take time off, and an expectation of presence driven from management.