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Raise awareness of impact of presenteeism

Most of us are familiar with the word “absenteeism”, but “presenteeism” is a relatively unknown term, infrequently used in workplace communication.

Most of us are familiar with the word “absenteeism”, but “presenteeism” is a relatively unknown term, infrequently used in workplace communication.

Absenteeism describes the practice of deliberate, habitual absence from work. In contrast, presenteeism broadly defines occurrences when employees report to work despite being ill or suffering from medical conditions.

While absenteeism is commonly viewed with disdain by supervisors and colleagues, presenteeism is accepted as a display of positive conduct and commendable work attitude.

Unfortunately, a large number of organisations are unaware that the adverse impact of presenteeism on productivity and profitability is more severe, compared with absenteeism.

Studies in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia have shown that the costs associated with presenteeism run into billions of dollars and are greater than absenteeism. All these were highlighted last month in an interesting, informative discussion of the topic on the Channel NewsAsia (CNA) programme First Look Asia.

There are many reasons unwell employees are unwilling or hesitant to recuperate at home and instead show up for work. Job security is one, especially in economically challenging times.

Excessive accumulation of uncompleted work, tight deadlines to meet and understaffed environments with insufficient numbers of available replacements for absent workers are, likewise, possible contributory factors.

Invariably, there are some who prefer spending time away from home to avoid ugly encounters with relatives or in-laws living under the same roof.

Company welfare policies and remuneration packages could contribute to the growing incidence of presenteeism, too. Take, for example, caps on medical leave entitlements and salary structures based on daily or hourly rates.

Presenteeism carries the potential risk of the transmission of infectious diseases in the workplace. The propensity to dismiss the seriousness of such risks as remote and baseless paranoia is irresponsible.

There are no known cures for a number of contagious diseases, and several more have been discovered recently. The consequences of a contagion could be dire, and efforts should be made to prevent that from happening on our small island.

That includes curbing presenteeism, which seemingly has not posed a problem in Singapore so far. The culture is probably not widely prevalent, hence its effects on bottom lines and productivity are insignificant or unnoticed.

Unless a comprehensive study is done, however, with the same focus as those in the US, Canada and Australia, the true extent of the costs and impact attributable to this issue will remain unclear.

Meanwhile, it is prudent and timely to raise awareness of the counterproductive aspects of presenteeism among all parties concerned. I commend CNA for broaching this subject.

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