Presenteeism

Why presenteeism costs more than absenteeism

An absent employee produces nothing for a day and the gap is visible, so it gets covered. A present-but-struggling employee produces a fraction of normal output for weeks, makes more errors, and slows the people around them, all while the dashboard shows full attendance. Because nothing flags it, nothing manages it, and the loss compounds quietly.

What drives it?

Sick people coming in anyway (culture, workload guilt, insecure work), mental health strain, chronic conditions managed badly by the job design, and disengagement, the version where the person quit months ago but is still attending. Casual and insecure workers face the sharpest version: no paid leave means working sick is an income decision, not a commitment signal.

How do you measure something invisible?

Imperfectly but usefully: self-reported capacity questions in engagement surveys, error and rework rates, and the gap between attendance and output in teams under strain. The estimate matters less than the order of magnitude; even conservative assumptions (a modest share of staff at reduced output) produce a number that changes how seriously wellbeing and workload design get taken.