The star of absenteeism has a name: sick leave, with 28% of employees having benefited from at least one compensated leave in 2023 (Drees, 2024) for an expense of 10.2 billion euros. Since 2019, long-term absenteeism has increased by 31%, with an increase of 30% among those under 30. Six out of ten employees were on leave at least once in 2023 and a quarter of long-term leave was linked to psychological disorders (Axa, Datascope, 2024). Does this mean that its opposite, presenteeism, represents the virtuous side of the world of work with happy and productive employees? “There is the case of employees who are physically present at work but whose mind is elsewhere. They voluntarily show themselves to be underproductive (and not without knowing it of their own free will due to any incapacity) by increasing the number of working hours taking a break and working on personal matters unrelated to their job description”, indicates researcher Denis Monneuse (Overpresentation – Working despite illnessDe Boeck, 2013). A presenteeism that he describes as “contemplative” or “passive”.
This presenteeism is far removed from that of employees who go to the office despite illness, for various reasons: 37% of employees concerned declare that waiting days are not paid. 22% felt that it was impossible for them to delegate their tasks and 21% feared being overloaded upon their return (Malakoff Mederic Humanis survey, 2019). For 15% of them, the reason given is more strategic: they covet a promotion or are in danger in a position and prefer to show themselves to be seen and to reassure their superiors about their motivation. Survival reflex which reflects discomfort. Among others, we observe a form of denial: 20% of employees believe that despite their illness, “their state of health does not prevent them from coming to work” and 39% of sick people go to the site because “they do not want to not let go.”
But often presenteeism, excluding illness, gives an indication of the image that the employee has of himself. For example, the shy person and the victim of imposter syndrome fear being replaced in their position by someone supposedly better than them. Extremely hard-working, they struggle with the mocking looks and the guilt-inducing remarks like “are you still taking your afternoon off?” as they rush off to pick up the feverish child from daycare. For fear of being confused with the slow and inefficient, these employees have difficulty admitting their shortcomings, sometimes even if it means clinging to positions that are not made for them.
A colossal cost for the company
However, these employees have nothing in common with lone wolves or pack leaders, who will not hesitate to cancel a friendly dinner for a meeting at 8 p.m. in order to occupy the field and make themselves indispensable to their manager – before to devour it. These power-hungry rods compete with natural-born competitors who live for the adrenaline of competition. These former top of the class aspire to N+1 recognition, just like those who only have their work in their life and experience this overinvestment as a personal accomplishment.
These “workaholics”, proud of being workaholics, cannot imagine that others have a personal life. Be careful not to promote these behaviors, warns the Malakoff Mederic Humanis study (Ibid): a risk of additional fatigue, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and demotivation leads to poorer quality work and performance. For the rest of the team, this type of attitude can cause a deterioration of the atmosphere and create an untenable social climate. Not to mention the financial aspect. “At the organizational level, presenteeism represents a considerable cost for employers since it reduces employee productivity by at least a third,” says Paul Hemp, former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review. A hidden cost of between 13.7 and 24.9 billion euros per year, at least twice as much as absenteeism with 7 billion euros in 2012, the Midori Consulting firm already calculated in 2015.
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