The slippery slope of ‘just’
Working when unwell – known as presenteeism, (also defined as work productivity loss caused by ill-health) is a globally prevalent practice that blurs the lines between work, home and “busyness”.
The Global Report on the Status of Teachers 2021 highlights that prior to the pandemic, teachers were already notorious for cutting into their downtime to “clock in” online and getting sucked into digital presenteeism from out-of-hours contact compelling us to reply to “just” one email on a Saturday evening while out for a meal.
Worse still self-diagnosing on a Tuesday night to “just” work through to the weekend with severe laryngitis (personally guilty as charged) to bear the cross for the team, telling ourselves that organising the cover will take too long and that it’s not worth facing the stigma of knowing looks on return from sickness nor the bomb-site of a classroom – “soldiering through” at the huge cost of potential burnout.
Research shows more hours working ≠ better performance
Always “on”
In the wake of coronavirus lockdowns, doomscrolling and remote working mandates, our work lives barged into our homes avalanching all-hours needs into our chill-out times and safe spaces. Parent-teacher conferences back-to-back with governor meetings, interrupted by grocery deliveries while keeping an eye on streams of social/team Whatsapp group updates.
“We tell ourselves that organising the cover will take too long and that it’s not worth facing the stigma of knowing looks on return.”
Teachers and leaders have been conditioned by necessity and self-perceived increased productivity to remain “on”, i.e. psychological presenteeism. School leaders are highlighting cognitive and emotional overload, one principal described a double-whammy of being completely mentally absent at work from sleep deficit and anxiety and equally disengaged during a Sunday family trip to the park due to being behind with school tasks.
The impact of presenteeism
Costing the economy circa £15bn in the UK alone, presenteeism and close cousin leaveism, reduce productivity greater than absenteeism. Findings from the 2020/21 Teacher Wellbeing Index found that 74 per cent of education professionals suffered from behavioural, psychological or physical symptoms due to their work and 46 per cent of teachers (54 per cent of school leaders) always go into work when unwell. Echoing a pre-pandemic CIPD survey which highlighted that 80 per cent of professionals would not take time off when ill and 83 per cent witnessing presenteeism – indicating the general weight of obligation to “show up” still being greater than that of our self-care responsibility – even after a major global health crisis.
The key question is what drives us to be present at work when we know we are not going to be productive? We can sometimes be our own worst enemy – loading unrealistic demands on ourselves, engaging in presenteeism with noble intentions i.e. a work martyr task ethic, upholding a guilt-led “grafter” image or a desire to maintain an “unblemished” record of attendance.
Being present ≠ being productive
Are we really discouraging presenteeism ?
With wellbeing being a pandemic buzzword the question is, are we really enabling a culture where communication, incentives and support go hand-in-hand with being a productive team-player?
Wellness programmes that offer a 20 per cent discount voucher for a neck massage are all well and good, but are we looking at mitigating the root causes of neckache? HR experts are highlighting structured flexibility as a way to ensure that staff can maintain a distinction between work and home life.
“School culture is experienced by what behaviours, attitudes and norms are rewarded formally and informally.”
School culture is experienced by what behaviours, attitudes and norms are rewarded formally and informally. If overwork is considered the benchmark of workplace interaction, we are actively perpetuating a vicious cycle of damage that erodes away at net productive organisational value.
Addressing the complexity
With the challenge of no “one-size-fits-all” approach to combatting presenteeism at your school, first steps are to consider your own attitudes to presenteeism to address any underlying negative biases and consider creating a co-constructed wellbeing action plan.
Being as transparent as you can about personal and team goals, making holistic wellness a regular talking point and perhaps bringing in a positive employee development model like ikigai to support a presenteeism checklist.
Interestingly, 2021’s most searched include themes of reflection, healing and pulling together. Bringing in weekly team gratitude activities can foster psychological safety and openness.
“We need narratives of self-care that give employees the autonomy to show professional integrity in making attendance decisions.”
With 42 per cent of educators believing their organisation’s culture has an adverse impact on their wellbeing and a perceived stigma for asking for support, the onus is on school leaders to form a sustainable social contract consisting of team-agreed wellbeing non-negotiables that clearly identify presenteeism as a negative phenomenon.
The layers of team culture need to be permeated with authentic “wellness over illness” narratives with any “toxic talk” or practice inconsistent with this (e.g praise for those dragging themselves in, subtle undermining of absent colleagues, non-verbal signals/implied communication intended to discourage absences) stamped out and replaced with celebrations and narratives of self-care that give employees the autonomy to demonstrate professional integrity in making attendance decisions that protect their holistic health on balance with performance targets and expectations.
School leaders can collect staff views using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Health and Performance Questionnaire which addresses links between work and health in order to frame caring conversations. Recognising and sharing examples of balanced resilience in your teams and rewarding employees who promote and permeate a social contract of good health has the benefit of sustainable productivity, minimised stress and reduced teacher attrition.
Productivity = collaborative culture + wellbeing focus + realistic targets
The takeaways
- The majority of staff are observant experts of the rules of engagement and astutely steer clear of negative attention at work. This pressure can lead to high presenteeism.
- Examining attitudes and values together, setting realistic wellbeing goals and realigning the cultural meaning of productive work, can greatly help to reduce the conditions that give rise to presenteeism.
- With less psychological danger attached to taking a break, unplugging or being absent to get well also prevents the spread of illness to others and reduces organisational costs and increases productivity.
