5 Effective Strategies to Tackle Absenteeism and Presenteeism at Work

On the surface, comparing absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace is relatively straightforward. The former describes being absent from work, and the latter describes being at work but not fully up to your job (more on those definitions shortly).

What often goes overlooked, though, are the key differences between absenteeism and presenteeism and, in particular, the hidden impact that presenteeism has on your workplace.

So let’s take a look at what absenteeism and presenteeism are, what they mean for your business (and your employees), and what you can do to help reduce the impact of both of these workplace issues on productivity.

What is Absenteeism?

Typically, absenteeism refers to frequent absences from work, beyond time off for unavoidable reasons like authorised absences or sick days. An employee taking time off when they’re unwell or to deal with a family emergency is normal, but when it becomes more frequent, or there are regular unauthorised absences, then it starts to fall into the category of absenteeism.

Some examples of absenteeism include:

• Calling in sick frequently, often without a legitimate medical issue.
• Taking time off, often last-minute, to do something else – like attend a job interview.
• Skipping work because they’re feeling disengaged or don’t like their work environment.
• Needing time off due to stress or overwhelm, to help avoid burnout.
• Regularly arriving late or leaving early.
• Taking longer breaks and lunches than allowed.

There are many reasons that an employee could fall into absenteeism. Some of them may be personal factors, but there are also reasons that the employer may be responsible for, so it’s important to look at the causes closely.

What is Presenteeism?

Presenteeism is when an employee attends work while unwell, injured, disengaged, or is otherwise not their normal self. Some common examples of presenteeism include:

• Coming into work while ill, especially with contagious illnesses like cold or flu, which can put other employees at risk.
• Working whilst experiencing mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety, depression or burnout.
• Being tired or sleep-deprived at work.
• Working whilst distracted or dealing with other issues – such as personal problems or family emergencies, for example.

Presenteeism can often be hard to identify, as you don’t always know what’s going on in an employee’s life, especially if the cause goes beyond a simple illness.

Absenteeism vs Presenteeism: Key Differences

The main difference between absenteeism and presenteeism is down to location – it’s in the name. Absenteeism employees aren’t at work; presenteeism employees are at work. But there are a few other factors that really highlight the key differences between the two, and help to highlight why presenteeism might be more costly than absenteeism. To illustrate this more clearly, we’ve put together a table of the key differences between absenteeism and presenteeism.

	Absenteeism	Presenteeism
Attendance	Absent	Present
Productivity	Direct loss of output – the role is not being performed while the employee is away.	Indirect loss – work is being done poorly, slowly, or with errors, often spreading negative effects across a team.
Visibility	Easy to measure – absence is noticed and recorded.	Employees should communicate when they are struggling rather than masking it, though this requires psychological safety created by the employer.
Common Causes	Physical illness, mental health conditions, workplace injury, stress, burnout, or low engagement.	Fear of job loss, excessive workload, poor mental health, financial pressure, or a culture that discourages taking sick leave.
Risk of Escalation	Can become chronic or long-term; may lead to capability procedures or dismissal.	Can deteriorate into full absenteeism, serious burnout, or resignations if left unaddressed.
Effect on Wider Workplace	Increases workload for remaining staff; may reduce morale if seen as unfair.	Can lower team morale through visible disengagement or spreading illness in the workplace.
Employer Responsibility	Employers must manage absence fairly, apply a clear policy, support return to work, and address underlying causes – not just the absence itself.	Employers have a duty to create a culture where people feel safe to take leave when unwell, and to recognise and address the conditions driving presenteeism.
Employee Responsibility	Employees are responsible for communicating absence promptly, following return-to-work processes, and engaging with support offered.	Employees should communicate when they are struggling rather than masking it – though this requires psychological safety created by the employer.

The Real Cost of Absenteeism and Presenteeism

Simply put, if your employees are engaging in behaviour that aligns with absenteeism or presenteeism, they won’t be working at their best. This can also affect other employees if they have to pick up extra workload, for example, which may bring down their productivity, too. Ultimately, if you’ve got absenteeism or presenteeism in your workplace, your business isn’t working as well as it should be.

That being said, you may think that an employee working at 50% of their usual output is better than an employee simply not being present. But because presenteeism can last longer than an absence (you’d recover quicker from a cold by resting at home than working, for example), and because it can have a knock-on effect for other staff, it can actually end up having a significantly worse impact on your business.

According to a global study, the costs associated with working through presenteeism are estimated to be around 5 to 10 times higher than those associated with absteeism. Additionally, a report by IPPR outlines that employees lose on average 44 days of productivity due to working through sickness, and that’s on top of the 6.7 days of average sick leave that staff take. In other words, your workplace is never truly functioning at 100% productivity.

Ultimately, the costs of presenteeism outweigh the costs of absenteeism.

There are lots of different stats around employee health and engagement rates, but the truth is that every workplace is different, and you’ll never truly be able to put an exact figure on what absenteeism and presenteeism are costing your workplace. But we do have two free tools that can help you get an idea of what the costs of employee health might look like in your workplace.

The first is our Workplace Wellbeing ROI Calculator, which tells you what your business may be losing by not investing in wellbeing initiatives to help prevent absenteeism and presenteeism.

The second is our Employee Health Risk Calculator. This gives you an idea of the kinds of ill health your employees may be experiencing currently, based on UK averages, including physical and mental health conditions.

Causes Behind Absenteeism

The causes of workplace absenteeism tend to come down to the employee themselves. Common causes can include:

• Physical illness (colds, flu, etc.)
• Mental health conditions (anxiety, depression, etc.)
• Workplace injury (particularly MSK and back injuries, for example)
• Stress
• Burnout
• Low engagement

But it’s important to note that these causes can be influenced by the employer as well as the employee. Ways an employer can influence absence causes include:

• Implementing good hygiene rules and providing sanitiser to help stop the spread of germs.
• Providing mental health support, such as Mental Health First Aiders.
• Having documented health and safety procedures, risk assessments and mitigation for activities with injury risk.
• Managing workload properly to prevent burnout and to ensure employees don’t get bored.

Causes Behind Presenteeism

Many of the causes of presenteeism at work come down to the employer – the employee should be absent, but for whatever reason, they feel like they need to be at work. Causes include:

• Fear of job loss (from not being seen to be working hard enough).
• Excessive workload.
• Poor mental health.
• Financial pressure.
• A culture that discourages or punishes taking sick leave.

Obviously, we can’t point the finger entirely at workplaces, but many of these issues are facts of life. An employee may have poor mental health due to family circumstances, rather than work, for example. But that doesn’t mean a business should wash its hands of any responsibility – the employee will still be suffering in the workplace and causing the business harm through lost productivity. Instead, a business should look at making reasonable adjustments in a situation like this, working with the employee so that both parties can benefit.

How to Identify Absenteeism and Presenteeism Warning Signs Early

There are several warning signs that employers, managers, HR, and wellbeing teams will need to be aware of when it comes to identifying absenteeism and presenteeism early.

It’s important to look beyond simple attendance records – you’re looking for changes in behaviour, performance, and engagement.

Some of the warning signs of absenteeism can include:

• Patterns in absence: Frequently missing work on certain days, like Mondays or Fridays, or around payday.
• Unexplained or Weak Excuses: Lack of a good reason, particularly for short-term or last-minute absences.
• High Employee Turnover: More of a consequence than a precursor, but staff leaving preceded by absence periods can indicate absenteeism due to disengagement with the workplace/business.
• Reduced Productivity: A decline in the quantity or quality of work could indicate that an employee is becoming disengaged and may begin to engage in absenteeism.
• Social Withdrawal: Becoming isolated and withdrawing from socialisation (if they were a social person before) could indicate that absences may be looming.

The warning signs of presenteeism can include:

• Working While Ill: Regularly attending work despite having a contagious illness (like the flu) or clear health issues.
• Declining Productivity: A noticeable decrease in output, and/or an increase in errors and mistakes.
• Working More Without Productivity Increase: Working excessive hours (like evenings and weekends) without an increase in productivity – taking longer to do normal amounts of work.
• Visible Exhaustion: Appearing constantly tired, stressed, or emotionally drained.
• Reluctance to Take Leave: Not using annual leave entitlement, cancelling time off, and not taking unpaid leave, like parental or bereavement leave.

There is a lot of crossover between the warning signs of absenteeism and presenteeism, and it can often be the case that presenteeism can develop into absenteeism, especially if the employee becomes disillusioned and disengaged with the workplace and business.

Managers, HR, and wellbeing teams should approach employees showing any of these warning signs with compassion and curiosity, rather than being confrontational.

For example, a subtle shift in the framing of a question can go a long way to showing genuine concern:

Confrontational approach: “Why are your sales figures down this month?

Curious approach: “I noticed your sales figures are lower than usual this month. That’s not like you – is everything okay? Is there anything I can do to help?”

In both approaches, you’re essentially asking the same question: why are your sales figures down? But the second example isn’t a question about the business, it’s about them – I’ve noticed this isn’t usual for you, so I want to offer support.

You’re showing your employees that you care about their wellbeing, not just the bottom line.

Strategies to Tackle Absenteeism and Presenteeism

There are many different ways to tackle absenteeism and presenteeism, but the key thing that they all share is that they are preventative – in other words, you should act before absenteeism and presenteeism become a problem for your workplace.

Implement a Clear Sick Day Policy

Having a clear absence policy is essential for preventing absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace. It lets employees know when they should take leave, what’s appropriate and what isn’t, and gives everyone a clear framework to go on. It helps protect your business, too, when monitoring employee absence.

Employee Health Screening

Workplace health screening is an important tool for workplaces, as it helps support the physical health of employees. Did you know, for example, that 15% of UK adults have untreated high blood pressure? These employees could be at risk of developing serious cardiovascular issues if left untreated, and, as high blood pressure has no symptoms, the only way to find out is with a test.

Serious health issues like cardiovascular disease may require lengthy periods out of work, or even early retirement, making initiatives like this essential for employers.

Employee Check-ins

It’s important to have regular check-ins with employees, regardless of presenteeism or absenteeism levels. Ultimately, though, you need to give your employees a safe and open space to discuss anything that might be affecting them. Check-ins with a line manager, or even HR, will give employees the chance to discuss issues that might lead to absenteeism and presenteeism, and help you find a way to prevent the issues from escalating.

It’s important to make sure that your line managers and workplace leaders have the right skills to talk to their team members, so consider running a structured training course to give your leaders the right tools to run employee check-ins effectively.

Workplace Wellbeing Fair

Here at New Leaf Health, we have quite a unique approach for businesses that want to host an interactive and engaging wellbeing event. These are our Workplace Wellbeing Fairs. They allow you to host a number of different wellbeing interventions all in one event, allowing you to engage employees across the whole business. Some of the interventions include:

• Health checks and screening
• Lifestyle review and advice
• Physical activity and nutrition
• Building resilience
• MSK and backcare
• Vitamin D testing
• Diabetes awareness
• Heart health
• Skin cancer awareness and mole checks
• Plus much more

In addition to this, many of our clients like to use these events to help promote their internal tools that are designed to prevent employee absenteeism and presenteeism, inviting their providers to exhibit and provide information. These often include:

• Life and medical insurance
• EAP
• Employee GP service
• Employee counselling service
• Dental and optical cover
• Pensions
• Cycle to work schemes
• Gym memberships and discounts
• Learning and development opportunities

These days are a fantastic way to raise awareness around existing benefits, in addition to giving staff insights on specific health issues, so they’re a great way to tackle presenteeism and absenteeism at work, especially for large organisations.

Have a Robust Workplace Wellbeing Strategy

When it comes to absenteeism and presenteeism, you may consider them to be an HR issue. Whilst this is true, the causes often come down to employee wellbeing. Yes, wellbeing tends to sit within HR, but it’s worth highlighting that if you have a dedicated wellbeing department or leader within your business, absenteeism and presenteeism should be on their agenda – and if this person is you, then you’re in the right place!

Make sure, when you develop your workplace wellbeing strategy, that absenteeism and presenteeism are key considerations – their impact can often be reduced through key wellbeing interventions, like the ones above!

Benefits of Reducing Absenteeism and Presenteeism

There are plenty of benefits to reducing both absenteeism and presenteeism, but in terms of the KPIs you’ll be looking at, the key benefits are:

• Increased productivity and performance
• Improved employee wellbeing and morale
• Reduced operational costs from covering absent staff
• Lower staff turnover
• Healthier company culture

Essentially, these boil down to three key benefits for your business:

• Staff are happier, healthier, and more productive, meaning your business will (probably) perform better.
• Existing employees are less likely to leave, as they’ll feel valued and will appreciate your attitude towards their wellbeing.
• Your business will attract high-quality talent for your sector, helping push your business above competitors.

In other words, prioritising the wellbeing of your employees to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism isn’t just for their benefit, but ultimately helps your business.

How we can Support your Absenteeism and Presenteeism Issues

There’s a lot of information on absenteeism and presenteeism in this article, and we certainly don’t expect you to go away and start implementing it all by yourself. Tackling these issues requires a multifaceted approach, which can present quite a challenge.

Here at New Leaf Health, we can support you from a preventative perspective. Our main focus is helping your employees understand their health numbers, what they mean, and what can happen if they don’t take action to improve their numbers (spoiler – it’s not good).

This is why we offer a comprehensive suite of on-site wellbeing events, mental health services, and even training courses for wellbeing leaders, to help you develop a wellbeing strategy and programme that will help reduce absenteeism and presenteeism in your workplace.

To discuss your challenges around absenteeism and presenteeism, fill out the form below, or get in touch with us directly:

Email enquiries@newleafhealth.co.uk, call 01384 877 855, or visit the service pages of our website for more information.

Absenteeism and Presenteeism FAQs

Is presenteeism more common than absenteeism?

Presenteeism is widely considered to be more common than absenteeism, though it’s far harder to identify. According to a report by IPPR, employees lose on average 44 days of productivity due to working through sickness, which eclipses the 6.4 days of sick leave that an average employee takes.

What is the biggest reason why employees miss work?

The most common reason for employees missing work is due to minor illnesses like colds, headaches, sickness, stomach upsets etc. These illnesses account for the most common causes of short-term absence in around 78% of UK organisations, according to CIPD.

When it comes to long-term absences, mental ill-health is the top cause, along with MSK and backcare issues.

What are the warning signs of absenteeism?

We’ve covered this above, but in case you missed it, the warning signs of absenteeism in your workplace can include:

• Patterns in absence
• Unexplained or Weak Excuses
• High Employee Turnover
• Reduced Productivity
• Social Withdrawal

What is the role of HR in managing absenteeism?

HR plays a key role in managing absenteeism, along with line managers, senior leadership, wellbeing teams, health and safety, etc. – essentially, if your role involves looking after the wellbeing of colleagues, then absenteeism factors in as a concern for you.

For HR in particular, though, tackling absence rates will be a key part of the job, so managing and getting ahead of absenteeism is especially important – which is why the warning signs listed above are crucial.