The Influence of Presenteeism on Productivity

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the influence between presenteeism and productivity among employees at selected government sectors in Putrajaya working under Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) and Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM). The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of presenteeism and to get a deeper understanding on one of the main factors of performance issues in the Malaysian government sectors which is the productivity among government servants. Productivity among employees is a critical factor in the success of a business operation since it reflects success and adds to the ability to compete with other businesses in the industry. It was found that three dimensions of presenteeism which were work-related demands, personal factors and organizational policies had significant positive relationships with productivity. It can be stated that presenteeism is linked significantly with the productivity loss among the employees in an organization. Presenteeism is a phenomenon in which employees come to work but are unable to perform the tasks that are assigned to them. In this context, there are many reasons that contribute to this circumstance which include mental, physical, and emotional environment as well as the pressure that employees receive through their work, personal factors, relationship with colleagues and emotional life issues. By resulting in a decrease in productivity, presenteeism contributes to economic costs. It refers to the self-rated measurable loss of work performance due to health problems. The result from this study reveals that personal factors of the employees had the greatest influence on productivity, followed by organization policies and work-related demands. A high level of presenteeism among employees in an organization is not only associated with the cost of lost productivity but also impacts the employees' health and life quality, increasing their medical costs. In a nutshell, personal factor is one of the many determinants that may have a major influence towards productivity among employees.