How do we solve a problem like presenteeism and are we seeing a new type emerge?

What is presenteeism – what’s the problem?

Many of us have been there: feeling unwell but not sure if we’re ill enough – or well enough – to be in work. The UK government has said that a “culture of presenteeism” among workers has damaged productivity^[1] – but what is ‘presenteeism’?

Simply, presenteeism is when employees come to work even though they’re unwell. This results in reduced productivity as the employee may be physically present but they’re not working to their full capacity – and instead of focusing on getting better, they prolong their illness.

Presenteeism is estimated to cost the UK economy £24 billion annually, according to a Deloitte 2024 whitepaper^[2] on mental health. Dr Wladislaw Rivkin^[3], an associate professor at Trinity College Dublin explains that the problem can affect several workdays “Considering the negative impact of presenteeism on next-day performance, this could lead to a vicious cycle where an employee tries to compensate for a lack of performance by engaging in daily presentism.” A recent analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed that, on average, 43.6 productive days per employee were lost due to presenteeism per year^[4].

There are many reasons employees feel the need to engage in presenteeism, these range from; feeling pressured by how they might be perceived by colleagues, financial pressure from taking days off, and mental health concerns, particularly around work stress.

Digital presenteeism

At the height of the pandemic, nearly half of those in employment in the UK worked from home^[5]. Since then, that number has reduced but still remains higher than pre-pandemic levels

The rise of flexible working, and the ability of working from home, has seen the rise of what is being referred to as ‘digital presenteeism’. This is when employees work from home when they’re unwell and can be self-imposed or perceived pressure from their organisation to keep working. Self-imposed presenteeism is when an employee might feel too unwell to come into the workplace, particularly if they have a contagious or unpleasant illness, but do not feel so ill they cannot work. Whilst this may seem pragmatic, it can cause the illness to persist , as they are not giving themselves adequate rest to recover.

A CIPD Health & Wellbeing at Work survey^[6], covering over 804 workplaces, saw an increase in HR leaders believing presenteeism affected employees who worked from home was increasing, rising from 77% in 2021 to 84% in 2022. HR professionals believed the opposite was happening in the workplace, with a reduction from 75% in 2021 to 65% in 2022. This was supported by Deloitte’s research, whose 2024 whitepaper on mental health suggested remote work could be exacerbating presenteeism, particularly for parents balancing working whilst caring for their children at home.

The right to switch off

Digital presenteeism can also be wrapped up with the ‘right to switch off’ or disconnect from work; to always be available well outside of working hours. With employees working from home the clear separation between the ‘work’ and ‘life’ becomes clouded, it may inadvertently pressure people to work longer and check emails longer into the afternoon / evening. Whilst from an employer’s perspective this might sound great (more work for the same money), the reality is that workers having reducing downtime to switch off can have a real impact on mental health – and in turn - productivity. The UK government is said to be considering right to switch off when outside work^[7], following countries like Belgium and Ireland who have already done so.