Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 18, 2016 6 NEWS on the wrong measure of produc- tivity; absenteeism is not a major culprit… For every one day off sick, employees waste 10 more doing very little." It's time to change the conversa- tion and start prioritizing under- performance instead of absentee- ism, said David Batman, GCC's chief medical offi cer in York, U.K., and co-author of the report, based on a study of 1,872 employees. "We need to stop talking about how many sick days people are taking and focus our energy on what they're doing when they're actually at work." Defi nitions, infl uences Presenteeism is when a person is physically at work but not per- forming at his best due to a physi- cal or psychological issue, said Sackett. Any issue that prevents a person from performing at his best contributes to presenteeism, she said. Presenteeism used to be de- fi ned strictly as somebody who was sick but came into work any- way and was not able to function as well as he could, said Paula Al- len, vice-president of research and integrative solutions at Morneau Shepell in Toronto. But that defi - nition has broadened. "It's basically people at work but not really working to their full capacity, so they're capable of it, they have the skills but they're not working to full capacity so that could be because they're distracted." But Gary Johns, professor emeritus of management at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Mon- treal, defi nes presenteeism as go- ing to work when you're ill, period. It's an old-fashioned view, he said. "In most cases, I think profes- sional people and academia either defi ne it as going to work ill or de- fi ne it as productivity loss going to work ill, those are the two kind of major defi nitions." ere are all kinds of things that can detract from a person's work, said Dave Gallson, associ- ate national executive director of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. " eir life isn't just from eight to four, they have a home life and when you carry that stuff in from your home life, then it aff ects your work productivity, your safety… how you get along with your co- workers, your customers, all of that stuff ," he said. "Sometimes, being wired and being connected to the Internet or your cellphone or texting and all that can also reduce the per- son's ability to take a clean break mentally from work." Many workplaces are demand- ing 110 per cent from people, in terms of working extra hours, higher levels of customer service and higher levels of innovation or problem-solving, said Allen. "Whereas you could be func- tioning at 80 per cent, 60 per cent and it not have an impact on the workplace before because the standard was... a little bit lower, its more noticeable now." ere's more of a focus on pre- senteeism as employers attempt to keep employees engaged and recognize that physical health doesn't stop on the doorstep of the organization, said Johns. "I don't think people are any sicker but I think organizations are realizing they may have some vested interest in paying attention to something that at one time was considered to be private, secret and confidential — employee health." And with a weaker economy and higher job insecurity, people are more likely to go to work when they're ill, he said. "People might be also stuck in jobs that are less fulfi lling but don't see any options to move at any given time." Identifying, measuring presenteeism To identify presenteeism, it's about noticing change within employees, said Gallson, such as lower productivity, tardiness, lon- ger lunch breaks or crankiness. "All of those things are slight signs that there's something amiss, and it's at those times when it's so important to have your manager trained on identifying these is- sues, and it's important to have your managers trained on how to approach the employee the right way." Presenteeism should also be tracked over time, he said. " ere's only, I think, about 15 per cent of Canadian organiza- tions who actually have a plan in place to track presenteeism, so 85 per cent of the employers out there really don't have a good un- derstanding of how presenteeism impacts their business." It's about using a definition that's narrow enough for it to be managed, just like absenteeism, said Johns. But the problem is identifying the behaviour. "It's relatively easy to measure absenteeism, it's much more diffi - cult to measure presenteeism be- cause it's something that, to some extent, is hidden." One way is to ask people for a self-report, he said. " e one that's most compa- rable to absenteeism data is to simply ask people in some kind of an HR audit: "In the past six months, how many days (did you go) to work ill when you probably should have stayed home?'" Research has shown that self- reported presenteeism, collected through a validated tool such as the World Health Organization Workplace Health and Productiv- ity Questionnaire (WHO-HPQ), is a strong indicator of the costs associated with presenteeism, said Sackett. It's important for managers to be aware of behavioural changes, said Allen. "Managers typically know, they'll see a little bit of behaviour change, somebody is being a little bit sluggish, the work has some er- rors. Another way to actually pay attention to what's going on is if there are more accidents and in- cidents, especially." ere are also validated scales that can be embedded in engage- ment surveys or health-risk as- sessments that can measure for presenteeism, along with self- reports, she said. "Organizations should pay at- tention to it and should measure it because it is costing more," she said. "If you have high presentee- ism, you don't have the level of customer service you should, you don't have the quality of work that you should, you don't have the in- novation and creativity that you should. You also have a high risk of disengaging people even if they are a source of presenteeism, so if you yourself are in a work envi- ronment where there's a fair bit of partial work by your co-workers, you're not going to be feeling great about that, either your work is go- ing to go down, or you're going to feel that you're not going to be the one who pulls all the weight or you're going to feel that you don't fi t and you leave." Consequences, solutions e cost of this presenteeism is 10 times higher than absentee- ism, said the GCC report, citing research by Gallup-Healthways, PwC and Direct Health Solu- tions in the United States. Absent workers cost employers about US$150 billion per year but those who come to work and are not fully productive cost US$1,500 billion per year. "If your employees are at work but performing at a low level of productivity, you're essentially going to need more people to get the same job done. is is a major expense for organizations," said Sackett. "High levels of presenteeism are predictive of increased absentee- ism later on. at means if your employee comes to work sick, they are more likely to need extra days off down the track. Perhaps presenteeism is such a big issue because of a social perception that taking personal leave is a bad thing? Anecdotal evidence sug- gests this may be the case." Presenteeism happens more often than absenteeism and can be more disruptive as it leads to missed deadlines, errors, extra work and potential accidents, said Allen. "It's a much bigger issue than absenteeism and it's actually a bit of a predictor for absenteeism as well, so when you have groups with high presenteeism, you also have groups with high absentee- ism, and individuals, when they show signs of presenteeism, are more likely to take time off work or to go on disability leave." Very few organizations have presenteeism policies and that's a good place to start, along with boosting the dialogue around the need to perhaps disclose hidden ailments that might be accommo- dated, said Johns. "Involving at that level the di- rect managers is very important because they're the people that are most likely to know about and spot these kinds of things and be able to accommodate them." e larger issue has to do with defi ning this behaviour, develop- ing a policy, showing concern about the issue and then using good common sense manage- ment to deal with it, he said. Lunch and learns are also im- portant as they encourage people to share their experiences, said Gallson. " en you start learning, 'OK, well I didn't know that the per- son at the next desk to me has an elderly parent and they're going through a bad time right now,' and you start understanding each other a little bit better." EAP contact information should also be posted throughout the workplace, he said, though this is not a failsafe solution. "There's still a certain num- ber of employees who do not feel they can fully confi de in an EAP provider because they don't un- derstand about the confi dentiality requirements EAP providers have, and they still have a fear... that 'If I disclose I have a mental illness to my EAP provider, it will get back to my partner or my employer, and I'm going to be restricted moving forward, so to speak.'" HR should be encouraging em- ployees to look after their physical and psychological well-being, said Sackett. "I've heard anecdotal evidence that some organizations have stopped tracking sick leave. is may seem radical but perhaps they've already worked out that a few extra days off generates a higher rate of performance when employees are on the job. Alterna- tively, this move may simply send a strong message that taking per- sonal leave is a good thing to do, empowering employees to take time off when they need to." If the cause of presenteeism is cultural, then working toward changing the culture is a good idea, she said. "Make sure that people feel comfortable taking personal leave. Make sure that excessive overtime is not encouraged." GCC encourages a "whole-of- person" approach, said Sackett. "Personal and professional lives interact and can both lead to pre- senteeism. Nurturing employees by empowering them to look after their health and well-being through exercise, sleep and nu- trition will pay dividends for an organization." at kind of approach makes sense, said Allen. "When you think about the sources, there's personal distrac- tion, then you can help with re- sources and coping skills to help deal with personal issues and per- sonal stressors. ere's the physi- cal health component of it… so the more physically fi t and well you are, the less likely that you will have those energy trains, the less likely that you will be overwhelmed and you feel pain if you have pain. "And from a mental health point of view, there's no question about it, depression, anxieties, anything unmanaged in terms of a mental health issue also impacts presenteeism, so helping people with skills to manage both their physical and mental health are important." Presenteeism more costly than absenteeism PRODUCTIVITY < pg. 1 Red fl ags for presenteeism •fatigue, diffi culty concentrating •lack of attention, easily distracted •decreased engagement, lower interest •deteriorating performance •coming in late, leaving early •accidents, altercations with colleagues •becoming unproductive Source: Clocking On and Checking Out, GCC Insights "If you have high presenteeism, you don't have the level of customer service, the quality of work, the innovation and creativity that you should." Dedication Canadian HR Reporter is sad to announce the passing of John Hobel. John was a big part of this publication for more than 20 years and played a big role in the human resources community across Canada. His steady hand guided the publication during his early years when he served as managing editor. In 2006, he was promoted to publisher and in 2013 he moved to the role of publisher/editor-in-chief. John's ever-present humour was on display in the popular wall calendar distributed each year by Canadian HR Reporter — it's illustrated with cartoons he wrote, often using humourous situations in his own office as fodder. John is missed deeply by the entire team here at Thomson Reuters. We dedicate this issue to his memory.

• Cover