tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
We've all seen them: work colleagues who refuse to stay home when they're sick, no matter how contagious. Most of them think they're doing their workplace and themselves a favour, but a new study from Concordia University finds workers who go to work ill often aren't helping anyone.
Gary Johns, a management professor at Concordia's John Molson School of Business, has just published a new study in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology on "presenteeism," or attending work when ill.
He says while absenteeism gets a lot of attention, presenteeism hasn't been as well studied.
"I was interested in why would somebody go to work when they're ill and what were the predictors of that," Johns said in a phone interview.
So he surveyed 444 recent business school graduates an average age of 31 about presenteeism. He asked them about their jobs and work experience and how often they called in sick to work, and how often they went into work even when they knew they weren't well.
Over the previous six months, the volunteers reported an average of three presenteeism days and 1.8 absenteeism days.
And what did Johns learn about employees who show up for work even with illnesses such as colds, migraines or back pain? A number of things guide their decision, including how important they felt their work was to the organization.
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http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/l...teeism-study-johns/20111117/?hub=MontrealHome
Gary Johns, a management professor at Concordia's John Molson School of Business, has just published a new study in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology on "presenteeism," or attending work when ill.
He says while absenteeism gets a lot of attention, presenteeism hasn't been as well studied.
"I was interested in why would somebody go to work when they're ill and what were the predictors of that," Johns said in a phone interview.
So he surveyed 444 recent business school graduates an average age of 31 about presenteeism. He asked them about their jobs and work experience and how often they called in sick to work, and how often they went into work even when they knew they weren't well.
Over the previous six months, the volunteers reported an average of three presenteeism days and 1.8 absenteeism days.
And what did Johns learn about employees who show up for work even with illnesses such as colds, migraines or back pain? A number of things guide their decision, including how important they felt their work was to the organization.
...
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/l...teeism-study-johns/20111117/?hub=MontrealHome