In the effort to protect and promote the health and safety of employees, perhaps no issue is potentially more complex and challenging than that of employee “presenteeism.” Generally defined as a loss of personal productivity resulting from health-related issues, presenteeism can run the gamut, from simple exhaustion on Monday morning following a busy weekend to constant pain and discomfort stemming from a chronic medical condition. In these and similar cases, an employee’s mental or physical attention is partially or completely diverted from their work, resulting in less than full concentration on the task at hand and requiring more time to complete assigned projects and fulfill other responsibilities.
For employers, the impact of employee presenteeism can be just as costly as a physical injury in the workplace. Indeed, lost productivity due to presenteeism and its consequences can represent a significant hidden cost to employers. Yet, many employers see employee presenteeism as simply a cost of doing business, instead of developing or implementing programs that could effectively reduce presenteeism in the workplace. Indeed, when integrated with other workplace health and safety programs, efforts to reduce the incidence of presenteeism can actually drive dramatic improvements in the overall economic performance of an organization while also contributing to the health and well-being of employees.