Valuing reductions in on-the-job illness: 'presenteeism' from managerial and economic perspectives

Mark V. Pauly, Sean Nicholson, Daniel Polsky, Marc L. Berger and Claire Sharda
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Mark V. Pauly: Health Care Systems Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Postal: Health Care Systems Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Daniel Polsky: General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Postal: General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Marc L. Berger: Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA, Postal: Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Claire Sharda: Integrated Health Management, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA, Postal: Integrated Health Management, Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA, USA

Health Economics, 2008, vol. 17, issue 4, pages 469-485

Abstract: This paper reports on a study of manager perceptions of the cost to employers of on-the-job employee illness, sometimes termed 'presenteeism,' for various types of jobs. Using methods developed previously, the authors analyzed data from a survey of more than 800 US managers to determine the characteristics of various jobs and the relationship of those characteristics to the manager's view of the cost to the firm of absenteeism and presenteeism. Jobs with characteristics that suggest unusually high cost (relative to wages) were similar in terms of their 'absenteeism multipliers' and their 'presenteeism multipliers.' Jobs with high values of team production, high requirements for timely output, and high difficulties of substitution for absent or impaired workers had significantly higher indicators of cost for both absenteeism and presenteeism, although substitution was somewhat less important for presenteeism. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2008
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