By now, you’ve probably heard of
presenteeism: the practice of workers reporting to work when ill. It’s a
trend that’s been increasing in recent years, and it’s having very real
impacts on employee productivity. In fact, some data puts on-the-job
productivity losses as high as 60 percent of the total cost of workers’
illness- actually exceeding the cost of absenteeism and medical disability.
But employees don’t just show up to work with coughs and fevers. As a chiropractor, I see a different form of presenteeism: people working through pain caused by bad ergonomics. You’re probably guilty of it yourself. You sit too long at your desk and your back starts hurting, which forces you to shift more, draws tension to the affected area, and ultimately distracts you from your work, or causes you to work more slowly than you would otherwise.
And yet you still show up at the office, day after day. In today’s economic environment, people are scared not to. And with companies cutting back on sick days, people are forced to go to work even when their work-spaces cause them pain- so although they’re present at work, they’re lacking presence.
But the solution isn’t staying home- being absent- as it might be for an illness. The solution is fixing the underlying issue at work. How do you do that? For starters, when you sit for too long and too much, that increases your risk factors for musculoskeletal problems like back pain and shoulder pain. Once those issues become chronic in nature, they contribute to presenteeism at work. So breaking the sitting cycle is key.
Proper ergonomic equipment is also critical. Companies that resist this idea because of the cost associated with buying an employee a stand-up desk, a monitor arm, or a keyboard tray are being dangerously shortsighted. Sure, they’re saving money in the short term, but now they have an employee who’s continuing to work in a space that may lead to all of these musculoskeletal issues, which will lead to the employee not being productive. Present, yes. But not productive.
So let’s invest in our employees. The initial investment, which might seem like a big deal on the surface, is ultimately smaller than the one you’ll face later, when you have a company full of workers whose productivity is suffering because they’re in pain.
But employees don’t just show up to work with coughs and fevers. As a chiropractor, I see a different form of presenteeism: people working through pain caused by bad ergonomics. You’re probably guilty of it yourself. You sit too long at your desk and your back starts hurting, which forces you to shift more, draws tension to the affected area, and ultimately distracts you from your work, or causes you to work more slowly than you would otherwise.
And yet you still show up at the office, day after day. In today’s economic environment, people are scared not to. And with companies cutting back on sick days, people are forced to go to work even when their work-spaces cause them pain- so although they’re present at work, they’re lacking presence.
But the solution isn’t staying home- being absent- as it might be for an illness. The solution is fixing the underlying issue at work. How do you do that? For starters, when you sit for too long and too much, that increases your risk factors for musculoskeletal problems like back pain and shoulder pain. Once those issues become chronic in nature, they contribute to presenteeism at work. So breaking the sitting cycle is key.
Proper ergonomic equipment is also critical. Companies that resist this idea because of the cost associated with buying an employee a stand-up desk, a monitor arm, or a keyboard tray are being dangerously shortsighted. Sure, they’re saving money in the short term, but now they have an employee who’s continuing to work in a space that may lead to all of these musculoskeletal issues, which will lead to the employee not being productive. Present, yes. But not productive.
So let’s invest in our employees. The initial investment, which might seem like a big deal on the surface, is ultimately smaller than the one you’ll face later, when you have a company full of workers whose productivity is suffering because they’re in pain.
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