‘Too scared to go sick’—reformulating the research agenda on sickness absence

Taylor, Phil; Cunningham, Ian; Newsome, Kirsty; Scholarios, Dora

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.2010.00569.x

Cited by 46 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Importantly, these behaviours were noted in previous studies such as Author (2014), MacKenzie and Forde (2009) and Taylor et al (2010) as being those that were linked to a good work ethic, with lack of demonstration of these being a result of a "bad attitude" (Tannock, 2013). These workers were unlikely to be offered permanent jobs with the case study organisations as a result of this perceived poor 'work ethic'.…”

Section: Process Manager -Choccomentioning

confidence: 89%

Analysing the ‘migrant work ethic’ – Comparing managers’ perceptions of local workers and Central and Eastern European migrants in the United Kingdom

Hopkins

2017

European Urban and Regional Studies

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-The 2004 expansion of the European Union saw over one million people from central and eastern Europe register to work in the United Kingdom. Early studies into this phenomenon found a highly qualified migrant workforce taking low skilled roles, and research in regions of high unemployment saw migrant workers viewed favourably by managers as compared to locals.Using a qualitative case study approach, this paper significantly adds to regional studies of migration to investigate comparisons of migrant and local workers in regions of low unemployment, where managerial views towards locals are not as negative. The paper finds that, owing to low levels of labour market power as a result of basic English language skills and problems of transferability of qualifications, migrants are finding new ways of signalling their higher productivity. These are low levels of absence and a willingness to work longer hours, frequently termed a 'good work ethic' by managers, and used to positively distinguish migrant workers even in regions of low unemployment. The paper then investigates what happens to the demonstration of this 'work ethic' over time, finding that these behaviours are less likely to be used as labour market power increases.

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Section: Process Manager -Choccomentioning

confidence: 89%

Analysing the ‘migrant work ethic’ – Comparing managers’ perceptions of local workers and Central and Eastern European migrants in the United Kingdom

Hopkins

2017

European Urban and Regional Studies

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“…The positive association between attitudes and presenteeism is corroborated by our qualitative review of several studies which asked respondents to explain their presenteeism. The most frequent answers included interest and pleasure derived from work activities (Biron, Brun, Ivers, & Cooper, 2006;Krohne & Magnussen, 2011) and a sense of commitment toward the organization (Falco, 2013;Taylor, Cunningham, Newsome, & Scholarios, 2010) or to the job per se (Caverley et al, 2007;McKevitt et al, 1997;Quazi, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going to work ill: A meta-analysis of the correlates of presenteeism and a dual-path model.

Miraglia

Johns²

2016

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

383

679

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Interest in presenteeism, attending work while ill, has flourished in light of its consequences for individual well-being and organizational productivity. Our goal was to identify its most significant causes and correlates by quantitatively summarizing the extant research. Additionally, we built an empirical model of some key correlates and compared the etiology of presenteeism versus absenteeism. We used meta-analysis (in total, K=109 samples, N=175,965) to investigate the correlates of presenteeism and meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test the empirical model. Salient correlates of working while ill included general ill health, constraints on absenteeism (e.g., strict absence policies, job insecurity), elevated job demands and felt stress, lack of job and personal resources (e.g., low support and low optimism), negative relational experiences (e.g., perceived discrimination), and positive attitudes (satisfaction, engagement, commitment). Moreover, our dual process model clarified how job demands and job and personal resources elicit presenteeism via both health impairment and motivational paths, and they explained more variation in presenteeism than absenteeism. The study sheds light on the controversial act of presenteeism, uncovering both positive and negative underlying mechanisms.The greater variance explained in presenteeism as opposed to absenteeism underlines the opportunities for researchers to meaningfully investigate the behavior and for organizations to manage it.Keywords: presenteeism; absenteeism; meta-analysis; health; demands. The term presenteeism has been used in several ways in the literature over the years, and Johns (2010) reviewed nine distinct definitions of the concept (see also Wężyk & Merecz, 2013).However, recent scholarly treatment has converged on two main definitions. The first of these is attending work while ill (Aronsson, Gustafsson, & Dallner, 2000). The second definition, which dominates the occupational medicine literature, is productivity loss stemming from attending while ill (Turpin et al., 2004). Although affirming the importance of the latter phenomenon, Johns (2010Johns ( , 2012 questioned this definition for conflating cause with effect and pre-empting the study of the causes of going to work ill. In the meta-analyses to be reported here we restrict the purview to the causes and correlates of the act of presenteeism-going to work ill. Most research on productivity loss has concentrated on its association with various medical conditions. Perhaps the most interesting thing about presenteeism is that it represents a muchoccupied but only recently studied state between being absent (and ostensibly exhibiting no productivity) and fully productive work engagement. Presentees will vary in their productivity due to a host of personal and contextual circumstances, such as the exact nature of their health Presenteeism correlates: A meta-analysis 4 problems. Nonetheless, they are unlikely to be fully engaged and fully productive. Hence, the causes and corre...

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“…However, the increasingly complex relationship between worker and employer, particularly when considering agency workers, requires in-depth qualitative investigation in order to understand the workplace experiences of those at the margins (as also noted by Taylor et al, 2010;Thompson, 2011). As such, this paper investigates worker experiences and OHS in the UK food manufacturing sector using in-depth qualitative research.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

Hopkins

2015

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Previous quantitative studies have established a link between precarious work and occupational health and safety (OHS). Using an ethnographically informed qualitative approach, this article investigates the workplace experiences of different types of precarious workers, in particular those who are directly-employed temporary workers and those who are engaged through an agency. Drawing on the work of Andrew Hopkins, the article finds cultural practices that lead to worsened OHS experiences for those who are engaged through an agency. These experiences include inadequate safety training, poor quality personal protective equipment and a lack of clarity of supervisory roles.

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‘Too scared to go sick’—reformulating the research agenda on sickness absence

Cited by 46 publications

References 47 publications

Analysing the ‘migrant work ethic’ – Comparing managers’ perceptions of local workers and Central and Eastern European migrants in the United Kingdom

Analysing the ‘migrant work ethic’ – Comparing managers’ perceptions of local workers and Central and Eastern European migrants in the United Kingdom

Going to work ill: A meta-analysis of the correlates of presenteeism and a dual-path model.

Occupational health and safety of temporary and agency workers

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