Presenteesim in the workplace costs US businesses $150 billion. That’s 10 times as much as absenteeism. When 90% of employees say they worked while sick during the previous year, something needs to change.
Forcing employees to feel like they have to work when they’re too sick to do so is detrimental not just to their health, but to your business, too.
Recently, I saw a post on LinkedIn from a manager, berating a new employee for taking a lunch break. Clue’s in the name. It’s a lunch break.
In fact, in some states, it’s illegal for employees to not take a break. They might be able to waive those rights, but your average office worker really doesn’t need to. Few things are ever that important.
How does presenteesim in the workplace impact your business?
Expecting your employees to be glued to their desks, whether they work remotely or in the office, is asking for burnout. It’s asking for problems to be solved more slowly, and disagreements to escalate because no one has had time to cool off.
It leads to a toxic culture that harms your employer brand and your business outcomes.
You can’t move faster than your competition if the words on the screen look blurry to your burned-out team.
Staring at a problem for too long can make us so agitated we can’t see the solution right in front of us. Sometimes all it takes is a walk to get some lunch to realize the solution was simple all along.
On top of that, forcing employees to sit at a desk all day is bad management. It shows you don’t trust your employees to do what you hired them to do, which means they’ll feel less comfortable talking to you in general.
Some people can’t sit at a desk all day, either. For instance, if they’re neurodivergent or have chronic health issues. Some people shouldn’t sit at a desk when they’re sick, such as with a cold or the flu. They risk passing those germs on to their colleagues and taking longer to heal themselves.
Employees aren’t robots and you shouldn’t treat them like they are. Presenteeism in the workplace simply isn’t worth it. The downsides seriously outweigh the benefits.
What to do about presenteeism in the workplace
Be clear about expectations in job descriptions
There’s nothing worse than a job description that says one thing, and a company culture that expects something else.
Your whole hiring team should align on what they expect from new hires.
Sure, you might attract more candidates by sugar-coating expectations, but are those people going to be the right fit? Or will you end up re-hiring because that poor fit quits during onboarding?
Hiring shouldn’t be about how many applicants you get; it should be about attracting the right types of people for your organization.
You’ll quickly see presenteeism in the workplace from people who start a role then find out it’s different from what you sold them.
Trust your employees
If someone isn’t on Slack or Teams, don’t assume the worst. It’s actually really distracting when you’re trying to concentrate and that little red dot is staring at you. The modern workplace is making it more and more difficult to get into a state of flow, and endless notifications — and the expectation that someone must be online during all working hours— is a big culprit.
As long as someone gets the task done, isn’t that what matters?
If you don’t trust your employees to do their job, that says something about your management style or your hiring process. Are you being overly controlling? Or are you hiring the wrong people for your company culture?
Focus on results, not time at a desk. Sitting at a desk doesn’t mean someone is getting work done. It means they’re in a chair. What should matter is an employee generating results for your business.
Time at a desk is measurement of presenteeism in the workplace, not of output.
Don’t make assumptions
Someone might be showing up at work but unable to concentrate because they’re going through a difficult time at home. Or maybe they’re sick. Or someone they love just died.
A lot of companies don’t offer compassionate leave, and they’re not going to be sympathetic to a hay fever flare up. So what do you expect employees to do? Of course they’ll show up and put little to no effort in; you’re forcing them to work when they’re in no state to.
These unreasonable expectations are a direct route to losing time and money to presenteeism in the workplace.
Accept that energy comes in waves
We’ve all felt it. Some days we’re super motivated and get all our tasks done by midday. Other days, just getting out of bed takes Herculean effort.
Remembering that your employees can’t show up with the same energy every day will help you treat them with more compassion and mean you get more out of them on the good days.
As I write this, the UK is in the middle of a huge heatwave. Not only is it considerably hotter than average, but it’s also humid. And our houses, which don’t have air conditioning, were built to retain heat. Said houses also have no time to cool down because we’re getting 16-17 hours of daylight.
Stuffy weather like this affects our ability to think. Plus it can make health conditions like asthma worse because humid air is harder to breathe in. It’s no wonder everything ground to a halt all week. Many people still logging into work have been prime examples of presenteeism in the workplace.
Let them switch off (and encourage their hobbies)
Employees deserve to have lives outside of work. Otherwise, why are they even working? They have no skin in the game when it comes to your business; they get a flat rate and that’s it. So why would they put extra effort in? Especially when some jobs right now don’t pay employees enough to cover basic living costs, let alone have fun?
Someone having diverse interests can benefit your company, too. The most innovative people in history had hobbies that were seemingly disconnected. The world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace, was both a poet and an engineer, for example. Most people wouldn’t connect those two, and I doubt you’d find many people with that combination even now.
New hobbies and experiences can trigger new ideas and help us see things differently. So then as well as helping us recharge, they help us innovate, too. Without other outlets to keep them engaged, you’ll see much higher rates of presenteeism in the workplace.
Want to support your employees’ interests? ERGs are the perfect solution. Team members can connect with other employees who share their backgrounds, goals, or interests. Using Workrowd, they’re easy to manage and measure results from, too. Get in touch to find out more.
Conclusion
Your employees are human, and that’s what makes them good at their jobs. They bring human creativity, innovation, insights, and empathy that AI never can.
And much like how you can spend your AI limit for the month, employees have limited capacity too. Presenteeism in the workplace makes them more like bots with no original thought. Understanding that, and treating them with compassion rather than expecting the worst, will help you get more out of them in the short- and long-term.
