Presenteeism Could Be On The Rise In Employment
Most people will have experienced fatigue from working long days across consecutive weeks and months. In fact, some people will even come into work when they are ill to avoid missing a day of employment. However, solicitors could provide legal advice if you find yourself overworked for the sake of job security.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people taking time off work has reached a record low in the UK. The ONS research found that employees took an average of 4.1 sick days in 2017, which is a significant drop from the 7.2 days in 1993. However, experts believe that this decline could lead to a rise in presenteeism, which is where someone is working more hours than required.
You may not have realised that you could be part of the presenteeism demographic, especially if you are working additional hours out of an insecurity for your job.
Sir Cary Cooper, president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester, told People Management: “Although sickness absence is lower, presenteeism is on the increase.
“The concerns about job security from Brexit and the aftermath of the recession have led to people needing to show ‘face time’, worried that high absenteeism would lead to possible redundancy.”
Gillian Connor, the head of policy partnerships at Mental Health UK, said that while press coverage continues to spotlight the issues of mental health, the “workplace policy has been slow to keep up”.
Now is the perfect time to take a step back and consider the short and long-term damage that presenteeism could have on your health if it is not dealt with correctly.