It’s that time of year again. As we’re in cold and flu season, your business will inevitably be affected by presenteeism.
Recent research from the CV-Library has shown that over two-thirds, 67.5% of workers engage in presenteeism, going into work when sick.
Is presenteeism such a bad thing?
You might be thinking, is it really such a bad thing to have your employees eager to come into work? Surely that’s every business owner’s dream.
However, the negative effects of presenteeism might be costing your business more than absenteeism.
Coming into work ill can affect a person’s productivity levels which can have an effect on other staff members and general morale. It can also mean that other staff get ill and so more of them end up having to take time off overall when just one person could have been off for a short while.
What are the causes of presenteeism?
Fear
People are worried that they’ll be seen as slackers or even that they might eventually lose their job over absences, particularly if there have been a few.
Workers are also concerned with losing money as a result of taking time off. Some will not see it as worth the rest needed to recover and will go into work even when they probably shouldn’t.
Guilt
People also feel guilty that their workloads are often shared with colleagues when they’re ill. They don’t want to put all their responsibilities onto someone else. This is particularly true for small businesses where there are fewer employees and therefore it’s more of a burden when someone is off.
How to combat presenteeism in your workplace
Offer sick pay
One way to curb presenteeism is to offer sick pay to encourage staff to take off the necessary time to recover without the financial worry. Some employers may be afraid that staff will take advantage of this but it’s one of the easiest ways to solve this problem.
The research from CV-Library found that only 55.9% of staff in the UK receive sick pay while 94.3% believe that all businesses should offer it.
Flexible working
If employees are able to work from home, whether on a regular basis or a temporary one, then encourage this as an alternative to coming into work.
This could be an alternative to someone coming into the office to work where they could risk infecting colleagues with colds or flu. It also targets the guilt problem because they’re not leaving work to someone else and the fear of losing money.
Give them space
34.2% of workers say that their manager puts pressure on them to return to work earlier than they are ready.
52.9% say that their managers are still in contact with them while they’re off sick, questioning whether they’re really ill and making it difficult to relax and recover.
If an absence causes workload problems…
If an absent employee causes chaos, then you might want to think about hiring more staff if you’re able. This will help take some of the heat off if a worker is absent, it doesn’t harm productivity or morale as much if the workloads are more manageable.
It’s also worth having systems in place for when certain people are off. There should be someone else who knows important information like log in details for example so that you’re not left without access to accounts while that person is ill, especially if it’s for an extended period of time.
Has presenteeism been a problem in your business? What have you been doing to combat it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.