Health/Wellness
Working woundedThere's at least one in every office. HOLLY LAKE |
|
 [ 2007-01-10 ] |
These wheezing folks, surrounded by crumpled tissues, can be a pitiful lot. Which prompts the question, what are they doing at work? Trying to impress the boss? Taking one for the team?
Whatever the reason for being a workplace warrior, some experts say sharing the pain only causes grief for all.
"It's a huge problem and I think we're just starting to realize it," says Dr. Iris Greenwald, a Richmond Hill family physician.
"Everyone is pretty familiar with absenteeism and the economic effect of people not coming to work. But I don't think people are as familiar with the costs associated with people coming to work sick."
Presenteeism -- coming to work when you're sick -- leads to decreased productivity. After all, it is taxing to try to work while aching all over, breathing through your mouth and struggling to stay awake. Spread what you've got, and soon others in the workplace are doing the same.
"You come in thinking something is better than nothing," Greenwald says. "But by coming in sick you can be draining productivity throughout the office."
A Decima phone survey of 2,000 Canadians over the age of 18 found that 79% of Canadians have gone to work sick, while 44% reported not having taken a single sick day. More than half felt they caught something from a co-worker.
So when to stay home? If it hasn't been more than 24 hours since your fever subsided, you're coughing a great deal or you have a runny nose, you should stay put. Otherwise you're leaving germs on every surface you touch and cough on. Given that the average person touches their face six times an hour, it's not hard to see how your bug can quickly spread. You're also denying your body downtime to heal.
So why do it? To understand presenteeism, says Dr. Chris Higgins, a professor at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business, is to look at the underlying thinking in the worker population.
Despite a booming economy, companies are downsizing, he says, leaving job security a top concern. Managers are also concerned and the job they do is reflected in the job their subordinates do, so that creates more pressure on employees to show up.
"The whole system is set up to put pressure on people to come to work," Higgins says. "And in general, Canadians feel guilty if they don't go to work."
Dr. Gary Johns, the research chair in management at Concordia University's John Molson School of Business, says work has become a lot more "teamy" in recent years, so when people stay home, they feel they've let their team down.
Two years ago the Harvard Business Review reported that lost productivity due to presenteeism costs employers more than absenteeism. Those who are sick are also more prone to make mistakes. Another study found that presenteeism may be costing the U.S. economy $150 billion a year.
Johns says what has not been studied and what needs to be understood is that this is a social issue, he adds.
"There are some organizations that have sick day provisions that are designed to get people back to work," he says. "But sometimes these things come back to bite an organization, to connote that you can never be sick. Rigid sick day policies could contribute to presenteeism, for sure."
---
SHARING YOUR SICKNESS
"Presenteeism" by province:
- 79% of Canadians overall have reported going to work sick
- 73% of Atlantic Canadians
- 84% of Quebec residents
- 77% of Ontario residents
- 79% of Manitoba/Saskatchewan residents
- 83% of Alberta residents
- 72% of B.C. residents
Do you have you a bad boss?