You’ve heard a lot about quiet quitting, but what about presenteeism? This is when a person is working but not performing up to par because of factors such as physical or mental sickness. This is different from absenteeism when an employee simply isn’t at work.
Presenteeism is caused by factors including employee disengagement due to stress or burnout, struggles with a short- or long-term physical condition, mental health issues, and/or family caregiving challenges. This problem is more common than you may think – studies have shown that more 60% of employees have gone to work when they are sick, stressed out, or preoccupied by personal issues.
Some signs of presenteeism include:
- Going to work sick.
- Playing down a personal illness or injury.
- Never going beyond minimum expectations.
- Having few ideas to move the business forward.
- Tardiness or leaving early.
To address presenteeism, managers can:
- Engage the worker by having regular conversations about their health and how it might be affecting their work.
- Offer flexibility (when possible) to address mental or physical health issues.
- Make sure your organization provides adequate sick time or PTO.
- Model behaviors such as not coming to work when you’re sick.
