Does a leaders’ presenteeism – that is, attending work while visibly sick – influence workers to reciprocate and work while sick? Yes, according to this study.
These researchers surveyed 74 leaders and their 412 team members over 22 months.
Key findings:
· “leader presenteeism had a positive effect on employee presenteeism which, in turn, had a positive effect on employee sick leave” (positive = both variables increase or decrease in the same direction)
· “leader presenteeism had a positive indirect effect on employee sick leave through employee presenteeism”
· They found “a positive indirect effect of leader presenteeism on later employee sick leave days and spells through employee presenteeism”
· “These findings are in line with evidence for employee emulation of different leader behaviours via social learning processes (Mayer et al., 2012) and may reflect a “trickledown effect”
· “Employees might use the behavioural cue of their ill leader to adjust their own behaviour”
· “Precondition for this mechanism is employee’s perception of leader’s illness”
· “Employee presenteeism had a high stability over a period of 14 months. Thus, previous presenteeism is a good predictor for presenteeism on later occasions”
· “Employees whose leaders often work while being ill throughout a year have a greater amount of presenteeism days in the following year. Employees’ motives to copy their leaders could be of an avoiding (e.g. preventing sanctions) or an approaching nature”
· “Due to the greater amount of presenteeism, psychophysiological strain probably cumulates and the health status worsens, which results in more sick leave. However, the frequency of sick leave seems to be less altered”
· “there was no influence of leader presenteeism on employee sick leave for employees having only a small total amount of sick leave days (< 30) in half a year’
· “Potentially, presenteeism is most detrimental for employees already having a poor health status”
They conclude:
“These results contribute to the occupational health psychology literature by suggesting that leader health-related behaviour can have consequences for employee health-related behaviour and employee health”.
And:
“Thus, leader presenteeism seems to have consequences that go beyond the leader her- or himself”.
Ref: Dietz, C., Zacher, H., Scheel, T., Otto, K., & Rigotti, T. (2020). Leaders as role models: Effects of leader presenteeism on employee presenteeism and sick leave. Work & Stress, 34(3), 300-322.
Study link: https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2020.1728420
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