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The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and consequences of the phenomenon of presenteeism in the educational sector. Particularly, the authors tested the relationship between excessive work responsibilities, presenteeism, work-to-family conflict and workers’ emotional exhaustion.

A self-report questionnaire was administered to 264 teachers in secondary schools.

A subsequent mediation of presenteeism and work-to-family conflict between work responsibilities and emotional exhaustion was found.

The findings of this study will provide help today’s organisations for better understanding and managing the new phenomenon of presenteeism in order to promote workers’ well-being and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate general psychosocial work conditions and specific workplace health promotion (WHP) measures in relation to employee health and sickness absence in Swedish municipal social care organizations.

In a random sample of 60 out of the 290 municipalities in Sweden, 15,871 municipal social care employees working with elderly and disabled clients were sent a questionnaire concerning psychosocial work environment, WHP, and self-rated health. The responses (response rate 58.4 per cent) were complemented by register data on sickness absence (>14 days). All data were aggregated to employer level.

A structural equation modelling analysis using employer-level data demonstrated that employers with more favourable employee ratings of the psychosocial work conditions, as well as of specific health-promoting measures, had better self-rated health and lower sickness absence level among employees.

The results from this representative nationwide sample of employers within one sector indicate that employers can promote employee health both by offering various health-specific programmes and activities, such as work environment education, fitness activities, and lifestyle guidance, as well as by forming a high-quality work environment in general including developmental and supportive leadership styles, prevention of role conflicts, and a supportive and comfortable social climate.

This study with a representative nationwide sample demonstrates: results in line with earlier studies and explanations to the challenges in comparing effects from specific and general WHP interventions on health.

Process facilitation as part of a complex intervention for changing or improving practices within workplaces is becoming a common work method. The aim of this study was to investigate what characterizes the process-facilitating role in a complex intervention.

The present study focuses on a complex work environment intervention targeting eight organizational units (workplaces) in the Swedish healthcare sector. The study applies a mixed-method approach and has been carried out in two steps. First, a qualitative process evaluation was performed. Secondly, an evaluation was conducted to see to what extent these identified conditions and mechanisms affected the quantitative intervention effect in term of sickness absence.

The analysis shows that the facilitating role consisted of three overlapping and partially iterative phases. These phases involved different activities for the facilitating role. Depending on how the facilitating role and the intervention were designed, various supporting conditions were found to significantly affect the outcome of the intervention measured as the total sickness absence.

It is concluded that the facilitation is not static or fixed during the change process. Instead, the facilitation role develops and emerges through the process of support during the different implementation phases.

The facilitative role of performing support is based on a combination of support role activities and expert role activities. The support role focuses on support activities, while the expert role includes capacity building through knowledge- and legitimacy-oriented activities.

This study contributes to earlier research by developing a methodological approach for carrying out process facilitation in complex interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-reported non-specific neck pain (NSNP) with presenteeism and biopsychosocial factors in office workers.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on office workers (n=119) from four workplaces in Sydney, Australia. Data were collected using online questionnaires comprising the Neck Pain and Disability Scale, Neck Bournemouth Index and Stanford Presenteeism Scale 6. Psychosocial factors were explored given their etiological and maintenance roles in musculoskeletal disorders. A combination of linear, generalised linear and ordinal regression models were applied.

The study found that presenteeism was significantly associated with NSNP. Psychosocial factors such as concentration, emotional stress, anxiety, depression and outlook were found to be associated with increased NSNP.

This research has implications as it expands understanding of the interplay between presenteeism and NSNP and psychosocial factors in the workplace.

The study identified the importance of organisations being able to identify when an office worker may be working while experiencing NSNP and how they may best support their employee’s recovery to prevent long-term disability and work productivity issues. These findings inform workplace policy formation by public health agencies.

Sickness absence is a major public health and economic problem. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of a legislative intervention that concerns reduction of compensation levels in sickness absence in the Slovak Republic. In addition, the study encompasses appraisal of effects reflected by related indicators.

The paper describes an evaluation study, based on national statistics from relevant sources. Numeric data were used for characterizing the dynamics of sickness absence in Slovakia in the years 1997-2013. Statistical programmes join-point and R-environment were used for analytical purposes in terms of Wilcoxon test and linear regression.

The results suggest that following the implementation of the Act No. 462/2003 Coll. the number of new cases as well as the proportion of sickness absence among insured persons decreased by 50 per cent (from 2003 – 60/100 to 2004 – 30,8/100). Average duration of inability to work increased to 6.5 days and there were more women compared to men on sick leave. The most frequent causes of sickness absence were respiratory diseases, muscular-skeletal diseases and injuries outside the workplace.

The trend of sickness absence can be influenced by many others factors, but the research is mainly focussed on legislative impact.

The research indicates an effect of legislative intervention at national level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of managers and employees, in one private and one public sector organization, towards an individual's decision to go to work, despite being unwell, a phenomenon known as presenteeism in the literature.

Qualitative interviews (n=33) were used to investigate the personal beliefs and attitudes of managers and employees towards presenteeism in an attempt to understand why individuals come into work, despite being unwell, rather than taking time off work.

This paper explores the factors that influence an individual's decision to come into work despite being ill. Employees who are unwell are likely to take into consideration a combination of factors before deciding whether to come into work or take sick leave. The study's findings highlight the importance of both the work environment and an individual's personal motivation, including their work ethic, on presenteeism, providing further evidence that context is important.

The study's findings support previous research that attendance management mechanisms implemented by the organization can lead to absenteeism. However, well‐designed and managed return to work policies can be of reciprocal benefit to both the organization and the employee.

The opposite of absenteeism, presenteeism, is the phenomenon of employees staying at work when they should be off sick. Presenteeism is an important problem for organizations, because employees who turn up for work, when sick, cause a reduction in productivity levels. The central aim of the present study is to examine the longitudinal relationships between job demands, burnout (exhaustion and depersonalization), and presenteeism. We hypothesized that job demands and exhaustion (but not depersonalization) would lead to presenteeism, and that presenteeism would lead to both exhaustion and depersonalization over time.

The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 258 staff nurses who filled out questionnaires at three measurement points with 1.5 years in‐between the waves.

Results were generally in line with predictions. Job demands caused more presenteeism, while depersonalization was an outcome of presenteeism over time. Exhaustion and presenteeism were found to be reciprocal, suggesting that when employees experience exhaustion, they mobilize compensation strategies, which ultimately increases their exhaustion.

These findings suggest that presenteeism can be seen as a risk‐taking organizational behavior and shows substantial longitudinal relationships with job demands and burnout.

The study suggests that presenteeism should be prevented at the workplace.

The expected contribution of the manuscript is not only to put presenteeism on the research agenda but also to make both organizations and scientists attend to its detrimental effects on employees' wellbeing and (consequently) on the organization.

It is often assumed that prison staff are particularly stressed due to their frequent exposure to traumatic events, which may damage not only individuals but also prisons and prisoners. While the impact of such stress may be recognised, the factors contributing to its development are unclear.The work reported here is part of a larger investigation of health care provision in a Greater London prison. Qualitative approaches were used to access the understandings of staff and key informants of the difficulties associated with their working environment. This enabled us to accommodate different working contexts, ensuring that the findings were grounded in the reality of the work undertaken by the participants.The data revealed that lack of training contributed significantly to the development of stress, reducing confidence in dealing with the many traumatic situations encountered. However, interpersonal relationships provided mutual support during crises. General working conditions, including workload and staff redeployment, were also important contributors to high levels of sickness‐absence which, in turn, exacerbated stress. Poor management practices, combined with a perceived lack of support, further aggravated stress.While it may be tempting to blame individuals for their inability to cope, all organisations have a duty of care to their employees and must take steps, at both the individual and organisational level, to prevent and manage work‐related stress.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the main factors influencing willingness to pay for health insurance and pension schemes among informal workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Historically, informal economy workers have been excluded from social protection coverage. There is a growing need, interest and policy discourse in LMICs to extend social security to informal economy workers. However, little is known about informal workers' willingness to pay (WTP) for social security services in different LMIC settings.

The authors conducted a systematic review and searched five databases from 1987 to 2017. Included papers focused on “social security”, “social insurance”, “pension”, “informal economy”, “informal sector” and “informal workers” in LMICs. Authors conducted independent data appraisal and data extraction. A total of 1790 papers were identified. After exclusion, 34 papers were included in the analysis. Given the heterogeneous results, the authors performed a narrative synthesis to consolidate the findings of the different studies.

In total, 34 studies from 17 countries were included in the review, out of which 23 studies focused on health insurance, 7 studies on pension schemes and 4 studies on social security in general. The study showed that income and trust were associated with WTP for both health insurance and pension schemes. In addition, family size, age, education and residential area were common factors for both forms of social security. For health insurance, experience of sickness, attitude and presence of medical doctors as well as distance from the healthcare facility all played a role in determining WTP. For pension schemes, low and flexible contribution rates, benefit package, government subsidies and quality of administration of the schemes influenced enrolment and contributions.

More evidence is needed for WTP for pensions among informal workers.

The findings show that socio-economic differences, scheme-type (health or pension) and level of trust influence WTP for health insurance or pension among informal sector workers. The review results suggest that the factors influencing WTP for health insurance and pensions interplay in a complex web of relations. More evidence is needed on WTP for pensions among informal workers.

Further studies are particularly needed on the interrelationship of the influences to WTP, including gender issues, access barriers and socioeconomic factors, among program design issues for social security.

This paper is based on a systematic review methodology and contributes to the discourse on extending social security to informal economy workers based on evidence from various countries.