How To Combat Presenteeism

With the inter-connected global economy, it seems that the corporate world is in a never-ending stress race to see who can get more done quickly and efficiently. This puts extensive strain on employees, who are the backbone of many projects. Therefore this race mentality is transferred straight to their cubicles.

Yet is this constant pressure day-in and day-out more harmful or helpful to the company as a whole?  If you were to compare the company to an individual, and made that individual run a marathon everyday with very little time for rest and recovery, eventually the marathoner, who might have initially been a winner, is going to slow down. After a certain point he will break down.

The cost of fixing his body, and getting it back into shape, not to mention the time he would need to take off just to rest, are much higher than what would be necessary had he been taking care of himself the whole time. Do you see how this relates to your employees?

Many employees come to work day-in and day out, and eventually the stress of the everyday gets to them. However, because employees are not taking the time to properly take care of their well-being, they are showing up to work, but are unable to use their energies in a productive manner.

This condition is know as presenteeism, and is the opposite of absenteeism. It means exactly what it sounds like. While employees are coming to work and are being “present, ”due to stress they are under, they are unable to be productive.

In many cases employees may take a “stress break” in an attempt to relieve their stress, and they go comiserate with another employee. Yet since they are not actually relaxing during their breaks, they are being inefficient and are actually wasting more time,  in turn wasting the company's money.

It has been quoted that presenteeism can cost a company billions of dollars a year. This condition is something that is caused by any kind of stress. It can be physical, emotional, or mental, and can be contagious. Yes stress is contagious and so is presenteesim.

Think of it as though you were thinking abou the flu. One person coughs on another and it continues so forth until the entire group is sick. The same thing occurs if one person transfers their various stresses ("presenteeism") and negative energies to another person. Then presenteeism spreads like a vius until the company is immobile.  The question is how to effectively stop the spread of presenteesim?

While the above may be an extreme example, presenteesim is something that needs to be adressed at its source, each individual employee. However it is a difficult issue to address, since each person might have a different form of presenteeism (just like different strains of the flu).

Remember that stress affects everyone differently, and so causes their "presenteeism" to manifest in different ways. Some need physical, while others need mental, and emotional attention.

Again employees are the backbone of a company, and the employees with "presenteeism"  are ruining the bottom line! The best way to attack this presenteesim virus is by developing a corporate wellness program. It take some financial investment, but you will reap the rewards once presenteeism turns into active productivity.

Employees are difficult to motivate as you may already know. If you invest the time and money and bring in a team of wellness experts that are professionals at fighting the “presenteeism” disease, be it mental, physical, or emotional stress– your employees will feel better. The professionals will target presenteeism at the company's sore spot, and bring employees back to health!

Better feeling employees equal more productive employees. This in turn lowers costs and increases your bottom line.  Invest in your backbone, rid your company of presenteeism, and you will invest in everyone's wellness!