Coût du présentéisme au travail

   Move over absenteeism. It seems « presenteeism » has become the far worse workplace culprit in terms of causing loss to U.S. employers ; that is, loss of employee productivity and loss of employer dollars. The bottom line : Presenteeism is costing employers more than absenteeism. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, presenteeism was coined to define the practice of workers reporting to work when ill and not operating to their usual level of productivity. The total cost of presenteeism to US employers has been increasing, and estimates for current losses range from about $150 to $250 billion annually. Costs for presenteeism are about 60 percent of the total cost of worker illness.

   People who come to work when sick are also likely to infect others; namely, coworkers and possibly customers or clients. In occupations such as nursing, and industries such as food service, an infected employee who comes to work ill can spell disaster — compromising food safety, and infecting and sickening the public, to name a few.

   In 2004, the Harvard Business Review reported on a study conducted by researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston. The study assessed the impact of twenty-eight medical conditions on workers’ productivity at Lockheed Martin Corp. The findings showed that employees who came to work sick that year — with ailments such as allergies, headaches, lower-back pain, arthritis, colds and the flu — set the company back about $34 million. Allergies and sinus trouble led the pack with the highest losses to the company of $1.8 million.

Causes of presenteeism

   Today’s workplace has changed from two or even one decade ago. Some of these changes have contributed to the growing incidence of presenteeism.

Increase in dual-earner and « sandwich generation » households

– Dual-earner families now account for about two-thirds of all married couples, this up from one-third in 1970. With a greater percentage of individuals lacking a spouse at home to care for a sick child, a number of workers will go to work when ill in order to save their limited sick days for when their children are sick. Added to the mix are about one in ten workers, aged 30 to 60, who are now also caring for aging parents as well as their own children: these individuals called the « sandwich generation. »Employer expectations

– In today’s often « leaner-and-meaner » workplaces, some workers trudge off to work when sick because they fear one or more of the following : appearing less committed to their jobs, receiving disciplinary action, or even losing their jobs. A day or more off can also mean burdening coworkers with job duties, coming back to a heavy backlog of work responsibilities, or missing work deadlines.Little or no paid sick days

Recognize the problem

– The first step in solving a problem is often recognizing there is a problem in the first place. Presenteeism is often unrecognized by employers who may not realize the extent of loss it can cause. If you’re a business owner, it’s time to make managers aware of this problem and that the costs of presenteeism are rising. A business that ignores the problem of presenteeism is a business that may very well have it adversely affect its bottom line.Rethink the use of disciplinary action to control absenteeism

– According to the 2004 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey conducted by Harris Interactive, disciplinary action remained the single-most used absence control program, with 91 percent of surveyed organizations reporting its use. Employers want their employees on the job and using as few sick days as possible, but CCH says employers that rely on disciplinary action to control absenteeism and abuse of sick time are unknowingly encouraging presenteeism.