ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evidence on presenteeism and the factors that seem to determine its prevalence and effects. Special attention is paid to performance effects, impacts on other employees, and long-term health consequences. There are two main perspectives on health in organizations. The first is that of occupational health and environmental hygiene, which emphasizes the potential impact that exposure to environmental risks and executing certain work tasks, can have on employees health. The second perspective depicts employee sickness as an undesirable phenomenon that limits the organizations dependability, raises costs, and reduces productivity. The role that human resources management (HRM) can and should play with regard to presenteeism and absenteeism is also discussed in the chapter. It is important for managers and HRM specialists to take these facets of sickness and work into consideration as dong so provides a better basis for developing effective health policies.
