Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 12:32:e17.
doi: 10.35371/aoem.2020.32.e17. eCollection 2020.

Association between employment status and sickness presenteeism among Korean employees: a cross-sectional study

Jeong Woo Park  1 , Seong Sik Cho  1 , JongWoo Lee  1 , Jonghyun Hwang  1 , Jung Il Kim  1 , Byoung Gwon Kim  1 , Young Seoub Hong  1
Affiliations

Association between employment status and sickness presenteeism among Korean employees: a cross-sectional study

Jeong Woo Park et al. Ann Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Background: Sickness presenteeism (SP) indicates "going to work while being ill." The importance of SP has only recently been investigated, and the association between SP and employment status has been inconsistent across studies. Therefore, we conducted this study to explore the association between SP and employment status by using presenteeism propensity (PP), which can reflect the individual decision-making process.

Methods: The study population included employees participating in the 5th Korean Working Condition Survey. We analyzed data of only employees with at least one health event, which was calculated as the sum of SP and sickness absenteeism days. Employment status was grouped into 3 categories: stable employment, unstable employment (contract period ≥ 1 year), and unstable employment (contract period < 1 year). Survey-weighted logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between employment status and PP (dichotomized as "≤ 0.5" and "> 0.5").

Results: Unstable employees (contract period ≥ 1 year) had higher odds of PP than stable employees (odds ratio [OR]: 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.47), whereas unstable employees (contract period < 1 year) had lower odds of PP than stable employees (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71-0.96).

Conclusions: Employment status was associated with SP. Given the negative health impact of SP, social efforts, such as paid sick leave, are required to reduce SP and enhance the health status of unstable workers.

Keywords: Presenteeism propensity; Sickness absenteeism; Sickness presenteeism; Stable employment; Unstable employment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Pihlajamäki M, Uitti J, Arola H, Ollikainen J, Korhonen M, Nummi T, et al. Self-reported health problems and obesity predict sickness absence during a 12-month follow-up: a prospective cohort study in 21 608 employees from different industries. BMJ Open. 2019;9(10):e025967 - PMC - PubMed
    1. North F, Syme SL, Feeney A, Head J, Shipley MJ, Marmot MG. Explaining socioeconomic differences in sickness absence: the Whitehall II Study. BMJ. 1993;306(6874):361–366. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vahtera J, Kivimäki M, Pentti J, Theorell T. Effect of change in the psychosocial work environment on sickness absence: a seven year follow up of initially healthy employees. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2000;54(7):484–493. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Voss M, Floderus B, Diderichsen F. Physical, psychosocial, and organisational factors relative to sickness absence: a study based on Sweden Post. Occup Environ Med. 2001;58(3):178–184. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johns G. Presenteeism in the workplace: a review and research agenda. J Organ Behav. 2010;31(4):519–542.

LinkOut - more resources