Presenteeism The Invisible Cost to Organizations

Sickness absenteeism is a widely researched workplace health problem that has long been seen as a cost to employers. However, recent literature indicates that the counterpart of absenteeism - termed as 'presenteeism' which refers to the practice of coming to work despite health complications, such as illness, injury or anxiety - often results in reduced productivity. Although presenteeism is much more costly compared to absenteeism, it is not yet common practice in organizations to measure the costs and use it as one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
The author presents the important issues related to the nature and extent of presenteeism and cites examples from different studies. The book discusses in depth why employees come to work despite being sick, strategies to manage presenteeism behavior and who should be taking the lead in managing such employee behavior. In addition, the author also includes three studies conducted in Singapore on the different aspects of presenteeism. The book offers a chapter on how to measure the cost of presenteeism to aid readers in measuring the cost of presenteeism in their own respective organizations.

Dr. Hesan Quazi is a Consultant for Strategy, Management and Organization at Nanyang Business School, Singapore. He holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh. He also received his MBA from the Indiana University, USA, and his PhD from Sussex University, UK. He teaches HR related subjects specializing in Total Rewards Management.