Sickness presenteeism: Are we sure about what we are studying? A research based on a literature review and an empirical illustration

Abstract

Background: There has been an increasing interest in studying sickness presenteeism (SP). An ever-increasing amount of scientific literature is published using this term, yet there appears to be considerable heterogeneity in how it is assessed, which could result in substantial differences in the definition and interpretation of the phenomenon really being studied. We aim to discuss what really is being studied, depending on how the phenomenon is operationalized, measured, and analyzed.Methods: A study based on a literature review and an empirical illustration using data of the third Spanish Psychosocial Risks Survey (2016). Results:Differences are observed based on the population in which SP is measured, the cut-off points used to define a worker as presenteeist, the reasons for an SP episode and even an analysis of the phenomenon treated as a count or as a dichotomous.Conclusions: Without being completely exclusive, it seems that restricting the population of analysis to only those workers who consider that they should not have gone to work due to their health, and/or establishing low cut-off points to define someone as presenteeist, would more clearly delimit the study of SP to the exercise of a right to sick leave. In contrast, working with the entire population or using high cut-off points appears to relate the study of SP more with health status and less with the exercise of rights. On the other hand, taking the reasons for SP into account would probably help to improve interpretation of the phenomenon.Since the 1980s, the economic impact of the loss of productivity among presenteeist workers, that is those who report for work despite being ill, has been a topic of interest in disciplines such as social sciences or management. 1,2 It has been observed, for example, that in certain circumstances the cost associated with performance-based work loss could exceed the costs of absenteeism and medical treatment combined. 3 A second approach focuses on the act of attending work while ill and its effects on worker's health. 1,4 In this approach, presenteeism is defined as the fact of working despite being ill 5 and it should be considered an important issue due to its association with several health problems. [6][7][8][9][10][11] In recent meta-analytic research, McGregor et al 12 explore the effect of these two operationalizations of presenteeism on previous Am J Ind Med. 2019;62:580-589. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ajim 580 |

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