What is presenteeism? Explaining Keir Starmer’s new nemesis

The UK’s productivity crisis is due to a workforce culture of “presenteeism” that improved flexible working could solve, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer declared earlier this week.

Presenteeism is a work trend where workers are physically present in the workplace, but are not operating at full capacity. It is likely a symptom of the growing employee engagement crisis, which some HR experts are dubbing ‘The Great Detachment’.

Speaking to reporters, Starmer condemned presenteeism and argued that businesses need to find a “balance of making the most of the flexible working practices [and] having appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that people can stay productive.”

Below, we explain what presenteeism is and how you can spot it within your own workforce.

The root causes of presenteeism

Presenteeism has its root in the toxic work behaviour of hustle culture and high management expectations, where busyness is seen to equate to productivity.

An employee who is engaging in presenteeism will turn up to the office and ‘coast’ through the day by looking busy but actually doing the bare minimum.

Sometimes, the employee may not be working effectively due to being ill, but feeling that they have to turn up (think of that coworker who comes in sneezing and coughing but refuses to go on sick leave).

More recently, a large number of people have been engaging in presenteeism due to rising levels of stress and burnout, which have made it harder for staff to feel motivated in their job.

This type of presenteeism helped to birth the viral HR buzzword ‘quiet quitting’ last year.

Presenteeism has been exacerbated by home working. Remote work makes it harder for employers to track employee performance, resulting in a lack of trust between workers and bosses that has seen many companies demand staff return to the office full-time this year.

How can I spot presenteeism?

Unless you’re closely monitoring one employee for signs of poor focus or low morale, it can be hard to spot, person to person. However, the impact of this workplace trend on a department-wide, or even team level is more noticeable.

You might spot that employees are not turning up to meetings, arriving to work late or leaving early, and are not volunteering for extra projects, leadership roles, or responsibilities.

If your business runs employee feedback sessions, staff members might even own up to their own presenteeism. Previously, workers may have been more discreet. But today, many staff members are openly discussing their own ambivalence towards working on TikTok.

Young staff members are more vulnerable to the practice. According to a study by CNBC, Gen Zers are now the least enthusiastic about their roles at work, as “quiet quitting” becomes ‘The Great Detachment’; where employees stay in roles they find dissatisfying.

How to tackle presenteeism

The best way to fix a culture of presenteeism is to change the culture. Easier said than done, but certainly possible. The first step is to identify the gripes your employees have.

For example, if staff say they feel undervalued, transitioning to a market culture where employees are rewarded with perks and benefits may help. If you think they feel they are not being listened to, aim for a clan culture where opinions are equally valid from every staff member. Multiple issues may require you to pull from multiple culture types.

Whitehall has also hinted that flexible working could be used to tackle presenteeism. A government spokesperson said: “The government is committed to supporting individuals and businesses to work in ways that best suit their particular circumstances”.

Flexible work arrangements have been shown to improve work-life balance by giving employees time to disconnect, which can boost productivity levels. Earlier this year, new laws were ratified that gave employees the right to request flexible work from day one.

Research from International Workplace Group has also revealed that workers with hybrid working options are less likely to ‘quiet quit’. In the study, 78% of hybrid workers reported that hybrid work had boosted their productivity levels.

Return to office remains unclear

While the government is backing flexible work protections, it has stopped short of forcing companies to drop their return to office policies and embrace home or hybrid working.

The spokesperson added that it will be up to individual employers to determine whether staff can work from home or at the workplace as “people’s roles will vary”.

Still, the prevalence of presenteeism should make employers sit up and listen. This week, the CEO of Nothing, a smartphone startup, was loudly criticised on LinkedIn after he shared an internal email declaring that remote work was “unambitious”.

These kinds of company values look increasingly outdated as the threat of presenteeism leads organisations to recognise the ill effects of equating office visibility with productivity.