Presenteeism

Presenteeism (when an employee shows up to work despite being unwell) is a weird one.

It begs the question – what’s going on here psychologically speaking?

Where is the employee feeling the pressure from?

Yes the company should be the first port of call but I think it’s rare for any manager in this day and age to be foolish enough to explicitly say you’re not allowed to take sick days.

Then if we rule out the explicit and venture into the murky waters of the implicit and arrive at the employee’s judgement.

Now if the implicit message received by everyone in the team/department/branch is you’re not allowed to take sick days then I sympathize with the employees and we can point the finger at the work culture.

But if others on the team are going off ill without any qualms and the individual still has presenteeism then I think we can pin it on the individual.

It’s most likely that they personally struggle with being perceived as weak, lazy, or not pulling their weight.

So, they soldier on despite their struggles.