Presenteeism: A Comparative Analysis

• Main Author: O'donnell, James E
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2009
• Subjects: Presenteeism; Health & Productivity; Business community; Hospitality Administration and Management; Human Resources Management
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/317; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=theses

Presenteeism is the state of being physically present but less than fully functional because of illness or other distraction. Health and Productivity Management (HPM) professionals and academics seek to quantify losses attributable to this phenomenon. The Stanford SPS-6 is selected as the most useful instrument to test for the characteristic of presenteeism as intrinsic capacity for performing while distracted. This study tests graduate students from a variety of curricula, as examples of career choice, to determine whether some groups would have greater capacity to perform under distraction. Results of the study showed differences in presenteeism scores between groups. Males scored higher than females, and more work experience may bring greater capacity. Evidence of a relationship between severity and score was found for those with psycho-emotional distractors, but not when the source was physical. For those reporting psycho-emotional sources of distraction, severity was a predictor. Similarly, correlations were found such that an increase in self-perceived severity could be associated with a reduction in capacity to perform when the source of distraction was psycho-emotional. It is possible that presenteeism can be quantifiable and associated with career-choice. This may be useful for hospitality and other industries as a test for suitable workers.