Leaveism at work

Hesketh, Ian; Cooper, Cary L.

doi:10.1093/occmed/kqu025

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Research on worker attendance behaviours associated with sickness has traditionally focused on sickness absence and more recently sickness presence (presenteeism). In 2014 Hesketh and Cooper [1] introduced a third form of attendance behaviour, leaveism, which was proposed as an additional manifestation of worker sickness. Leaveism describes hidden sickness absence and work undertaken during rest periods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, it is the practice of employees: (i) utilising allocated time off such as annual leave entitlements, flexi hours, banked re-rostered rest days, etc., to take time off when they are in fact unwell; (ii) taking work home that cannot be completed in normal hours; and (iii) working while on leave or holiday to catch up. [1] Research on this emerging concept is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, and in relation to the first of the leaveism dimensions, organisations require accurate sickness data in order to meaningfully inform policies and procedures to protect and promote workers' health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leaveism in English and Welsh police forces: baseline reference values

Houdmont

Elliott-Davies

Donnelly

2018

Occupational Medicine

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Background: Leaveism is a recently coined term for alternative attendance behaviours to sickness absence and sickness presence. Initial studies suggest that leaveism might mask the true extent of sickness in organisations and represent a response to perceived job insecurity, the belief that sickness absence could harm promotion prospects, and low job gratification.Aims: To generate baseline reference values for leaveism in English and Welsh police forces to facilitate benchmarking and risk-reduction activities.Methods: Officers represented by the Police Federation of England and Wales contributed survey data on the incidence of three leaveism dimensions in the year to February 2016. We applied descriptive statistics to characterise leaveism and Pearson's χ 2 tests to examine differences in incidence rates by socio-and occupationaldemographic factors.Results: Annual leave or rest days were used to take time off from work due to physical health complaints by 8,499/14,451 (59%) of respondents and psychological health complaints by 5,983/14,326 (42%) (dimension 1). Work was taken home that could not be completed in normal working hours by 7,515/14,959 (50%) of respondents (dimension 2), and 5,974/14,963 (40%) reported having worked while on annual leave in order to catch up with work (dimension 3). Incidence rates on dimensions 2 and 3 differed markedly by rank, with higher ranks reporting higher rates.Conclusions: These sector-wide findings suggest that leaveism is a cause for concern.Further research is required to identify sector-specific causes of leaveism with a view to informing interventions to tackle the problem.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaveism in English and Welsh police forces: baseline reference values

Houdmont

Elliott-Davies

Donnelly

2018

Occupational Medicine

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“…[34] Participants, primarily charge nurses, reported using their vacation leave to shorten their working day to cope when ill. This is an aspect of both "leaveism" [35] and "adjustment latitude", defined as opportunities to adjust work to one's state of health. [36] The latter has been linked with both increased [26] and decreased presenteeism, suggesting that whilst adjustment latitude facilitates presenteeism, it is also health promoting.…”

Section: 3 Organisational Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reasons for presenteeism in nurses working in geriatric settings: A qualitative study

Fiorini

Griffiths

Houdmont

2018

JHA

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Objective: To explore the perceived causes of presenteeism in nurses on geriatric wards.Background: Presenteeism, defined as working when unwell, is associated with lost productivity and increased absenteeism. It is more commonly reported by employees in the healthcare sector than other sectors.Methods: An exploratory, qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, thematically analysed. Data collected via 18 recorded interviews with nurses working with patients on geriatric medical wards in Malta.Results: Four major themes emerged that related to nurses’ decisions to engage in presenteeism: illness perceptions, which included participants’ views and experiences of their own health complaints; attitudes to their employing organisation, co-workers and patients; organisational aspects such as culture and administrative arrangements; and personal reasons including illness behaviour preference and personal circumstances.Conclusions: Nurses’ decisions to attend work when unwell were reported as dependent upon four themes. Further studies are warranted to determine if findings are applicable to nurse populations other than those represented in this study.Implications: Workplace health promotion initiatives should target nurses’ management of their own health, particularly if they have chronic illnesses. Workplace policies and arrangements should be examined with a view to controlling presenteeism.

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“…However, notions of working at home as formalised, employer-sanctioned spatial flexibility offers only a partial picture, obscuring the incidence and nature of work performed remotely, which may also be performed on an informal, ad hoc basis and without formal agreement from employers. In addition to being part of a formal arrangement, working at home may also involve employees preparing for or catching up on tasks before or after their usual time at the office, or keeping up with work while on leave (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2016; Fenner and Renn, 2004, 2010; Hesketh and Cooper, 2014; Ojala, 2011; Ojala et al., 2014; Song, 2009). This work may be experienced ambiguously by employees, as mobile technologies make it possible to easily intersperse work and non-work activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing catch up? An exploration of supplementary work at home among Australian public servants

Cortis

Powell

2018

Journal of Industrial Relations

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Working at home has conventionally been understood as a formal, employer-sanctioned flexibility or 'telework' arrangement adopted primarily to promote work-life balance. However, work at home is now most commonly performed outside of normal working hours on an informal, ad hoc basis, to prepare for or catch up on tasks workers usually perform in the workplace. Scholarly assessment of this type of work has been sparse. To fill this gap, we undertook secondary analysis of a large data set, the Australian Public Service Employee Census, to explore the personal and organisational factors associated with middle-level managers regularly taking work home to perform outside of and in addition to their usual working hours. We conceptualise this as 'supplementary work'. The analysis shows how supplementary work is a flexibility practice associated with high workloads and poor organisational supports for work-life balance, distinguishing it from other forms of home-based work. Whereas previous studies have not found gendered effects, we found women with caring responsibilities had higher odds of performing supplementary work. These findings expand understandings of contemporary flexibility practices and the factors that affect them, and underline the need for more nuanced theories of working at home.

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Leaveism at work

Cited by 34 publications

References 2 publications

Leaveism in English and Welsh police forces: baseline reference values

Leaveism in English and Welsh police forces: baseline reference values

Reasons for presenteeism in nurses working in geriatric settings: A qualitative study

Playing catch up? An exploration of supplementary work at home among Australian public servants

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