I guess this goes into the “great minds think alike” category (or at the very least “birds of a feather flock together”), but I read an interesting article in HBR yesterday on the problem of “presenteeism,” or coming to work when you’re sick or not feeling 100% (I will not comment on how this concept relates to my law school grades…). Then I look at my newsreader and see that George over at George’s Employment Law Blawg has this post on the same subject. The HBR article cites a growing body of research on the problem. It estimates that businesses spend billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, quality problems and the like due to “presenteeism.” More troubling is the finding by companies like Bank One and International Truck and Engine that presenteeism probably accounts for the vast majority of the health-related costs paid by businesses each year (Bank One estimated that about 61% of its health-related costs were related to presenteeism, while about 24% went to medical insurance and pharmaceutical costs and 13% to absenteeism and short- and long-term disability). If these numbers are even close to accurate the implications are very far-reaching. Kind of puts the whole flu shot debacle into a different perspective.
