Introduction
Presenteeism is the practice whereby employees work even though
they are ill and should be taking care of themselves. There are
many reasons why employees choose to work when they are ill,
including the fear that they will be unable to cope with the work
otherwise or that their sickness will negatively affect them in
their employers' eyes and may even cause them to lose their
jobs. Presenteeism can be driven by the state of an employee's
working environment. For example, if superiors have excessive
performance expectations this can have a negative effect on
employees. Moreover, if no substitution rules or procedures exist,
an employee may come into work in order to not burden their
co-workers with additional work. However, presenteeism arguably
helps no one; it negatively affects the sick employee, their
co-workers, the employer and the company as a whole.
