[1] An employee may come to work because they simply need the money and cannot afford to take time off due to illness.
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.
[1] Other reasons include feeling that career prospects may be damaged if they take time off, and an expectation of presence driven from management.
While the contrasting subject of absenteeism has historically received extensive attention in the management sciences, presenteeism has only been studied recently.
For instance, Simpson claimed that presenteeism is "the tendency to stay at work beyond the time needed for effective performance on the job.
He further noted that definitions of presenteeism, which are centered on attending work while sick, have received more evidence of construct validity.
In other words, when defined as coming to work while sick, presenteeism seems to relate more to logical outcome variables and correlates.
[1] Simply viewing presenteeism as a negative act that leads to productivity loss and decreased health may be restricting potential analysis of the construct.
For example, Virtanen, Kivimaki, Elovainio, Vahtera, and Ferrie found that employees exhibited much higher rates of absenteeism once they became permanent workers.
In a study in Sweden, Aronsson et al. found higher rates of presenteeism in organizations whose function is to provide welfare and teaching services.
[9] In the private hospital, there was little pressure from management to exhibit presenteeism; however, a sense of family seemed to exist between the staff, and a strong loyalty to coworkers pushed employees to come to work while unhealthy.
For example, Jena et al. studied residents in training and noted high rates of presenteeism, which they concluded were the result of feeling irreplaceable.
[10] Further extending the examination of the medical field, McKevitt, Morgan, Dundas, and Holland studied hundreds of healthcare professionals and found that more than 80 percent of respondents had worked while ill.
Individuals listed some of the reasons they had not taken sick days, and many cited the fact that they felt large pressure to work.
[11] In some cases, general practitioners did not want to burden their partners, and many felt a strong commitment to the job that prevented them from taking sick leave.
[12] Instead individuals felt they had to come to work while ill or injured because they believed they had high workloads, many deadlines, and often very little backup support.
[11] Moreover, Demerouti, Le Blanc, Bakker, Schaufeli, and Hox examined job demands and found that they had a positive relationship with presenteeism.
Nonetheless, a large study by Goetzel et al. estimated that on average in the United States, an employee's presenteeism costs or lost on-the-job productivity are approximately $255.
[20] These authors examined conditions such as allergies, arthritis, chronic pain, diabetes, and mental health disorders.
In a 2014 survey by Canada Life Insurance, over 80% of respondents stated that they had become ill as a result of an infection contracted in the workplace.
For instance, Aronsson et al. asked participants to what extent over the past year they had gone to work despite feeling they should have taken sick leave.
[27] Using six items, respondents determine the extent to which they agree with statements that describe how their health condition may or may not affect their work.
[28] This self-report measure acquires information about respondents' health conditions and has them provide perceptions of their job performance.
In the United States, one other proposed response has been to require that paid sick and family leave be provided to all workers.