Leaveism

Last updated

Leaveism (leavism) [1] is a term first coined in 2013 by Dr Ian Hesketh, a researcher at University of Manchester, to describe the phenomena of employees using flexitime, annual leave, rest days and other leave entitlement schemes to have time off when they are in fact too unwell to go to work. He later extended this to include occasions whereby employees took work home and/or on holiday that they could not complete in paid working hours. Hesketh's research, which centred on well-being in the UK police service, sought to identify a gap in current thinking around absenteeism and presenteeism; [2] of which there is a plethora of academic study and commentary. The aim of his studies was to highlight that the true extent of sickness absence may be masked by the practice of leaveism, and that there may be a hidden populace experiencing significant work overload.

Contents

Definition

Leaveism [3] is the practice of:

  1. employees using allocated time off such as annual leave entitlements, flexi hours banked, re-rostered rest days and so on, to take time off when they are in fact unwell;
  2. employees using these leave entitlements to look after dependents, including children and/or elderly relatives;
  3. employees taking work home that cannot be completed in normal working hours;
  4. employees working while not at work, on leave or holiday to catch up.

Additional research

In a later paper Hesketh et al. explored the relationship of leaveism with aspects of work-life balance, which he referred to as integration, and the extent to which the practice existed amongst senior police officers. [4] Hesketh and Cooper are currently researching the second aspect of leaveism, associated with using time off such as annual leave, flexitime and other rest day allocations to look after dependents, including both children and elderly relatives; the so-called sandwich generation. [5] The global COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this aspect as schools around the world closed down in attempts to reduce the spread of the virus. Again, the consequences of this are that employees are vulnerable to workload overload, which may, over time, have major health implications to those individuals. This may also have impacts on workplace outcomes, such as lost productivity and/or reduced performance and efficiency. This work also looks at the implications for resilience, engagement and discretionary effort which is discussed in depth in Hesketh and Cooper's book Managing Health and Wellbeing in the Public Sector. [6] Further studies explored implications for HR and other management activities. [7] During the pandemic Hesketh and Cooper garnered reflections from many different organisations on what had been the impact and learning practices from what was described as the largest forced workforce experiment of all time (lockdowns). These were recorded in their book Managing Workplace Health and Wellbeing During a Crises. [8]

Extent and factors

In support, research carried out by Gerich (n=930) suggested that fear of job loss or downgrading and low perceived job gratification appeared to increase the likelihood of the first element of leaveism. [9]

In the CIPD Wellbeing Survey of 2021, [10] the majority of respondents (84%) reported having observed ‘presenteeism’ while physically in the workplace (75%) and while working at home (77%), over the past 12 months. Further, seven in ten (70%) observed some form of ‘leaveism’, such as working outside contracted hours or working during designated holiday time, over the past 12 months. While it was reported that more organisations were taking steps to address both ‘presenteeism’ and ‘leaveism’ compared with the previous year, over two-fifths of those experiencing the reported issues did not take any action (43% for those experiencing presenteeism; 47% in the case of leaveism).

Leaveism is also cited in a July 2019 BBC publication. [11]

Leaveism in police forces

Findings from a national survey of police officers in the UK carried out in 2016 (n= 16,841) for the Police Federation of England and Wales noted that 59% of respondents had used annual leave, flexi time, or rest days to have time away from the workplace due to the state of their physical health, and 42% had done the same due to psychological health conditions. Furthermore, the same survey reported 50% of respondents indicated that they had taken work home that could not have been completed in normal working hours, and 40% had worked while on holiday or annual leave in order to catch up with outstanding work. [12]

On a 2017 study visit to the United States, Hesketh noted that police officers in the United States also took vacation time to mask sickness. In some cases, officers used their vacation time to avoid complaints or criticisms for working additional duties or employment outside of their police department. A culture of long hours and relatively high wages drove officers to use their own vacation time if suffering ill health to continue on additional paid work that was not as emotionally taxing or physically demanding. [13]

Risk factors

The CIPD and Simply Health, following research with over 1,000 HR professionals representing 4.6 million employees in the UK, reported that 69% of respondents had observed leaveism over the last 12 months, and 87% of respondents agreed that technology affected employees' ability to "switch off" out of work hours (element 4 of leaveism), citing that broader public accessibility of personal cell phones and computers enabled people to take phone calls and answer emails outside of working hours. [14]

A 2020 report by Deloitte detailed a 'deep dive' into leaveism. It modelled numerous studies conducted over recent years and highlighted the criticality of the phenomena in understanding employees workplace responses to stress and ill-health. The report concluded that younger employees were more susceptible to leaveism and, as such, required more support. The report also made recommendations about what organisations could practically do to reduce the associated risks of leaveism behaviours. Steps such as setting clear boundaries between work and personal time, enabling policy-driven culture change and encouraging people to take their annual leave allocation to switch off and relax. [15]

Covid-19

March 2020 saw a distinct change in leaveism behaviours, with the impact of COVID-19 striking hard. Employees isolating and shielding largely ceased to use allocated time off when unwell, element 1 of the practice. Conversely, there appears to be an enormous rise in a version of elements 3 and 4, in that employees are working incredibly long hours on Zoom, Teams, FaceTime and Skype calls without a break. Many seeing their workloads rise exponentially. The National Forum for Health and Wellbeing noted the propensity for employees to conduct back to back online meetings without a break for very long hours throughout the working day and well beyond. The impact of which inhibits exercise and healthy living generally. They also witnessed employees effectively working from bed when they were unwell. Hesketh & Cooper reflected these, and other, post COVID19 phenomena in their 2nd Edition of Wellbeing at Work. [16] Organisations across the globe now monitor these behaviours and measure the impact on the workforce, performance and productivity. The overall objective is, of course, to engage and maintain a healthy workforce that draw meaning and purpose from their lives.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-collar worker</span> Social class; person who performs intellectual labor

A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional service, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, consulting, academia, accountancy, business and executive management, customer support, design, economics, science, technology, engineering, market research, finance, human resources, operations research, marketing, public relations, real estate, information technology, networking, law, healthcare, architecture, and research and development.

Flextime, also spelled flex-time or flexitime (BE), is a flexible hours schedule that allows workers to alter their workday and adjust their start and finish times. In contrast to traditional work arrangements that require employees to work a standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. day, Flextime typically involves a "core" period of the day during which employees are required to be at work, and a "bandwidth" period within which all required hours must be worked. The working day outside of the core period is "flexible time", in which employees can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily, weekly or monthly hours within the bandwidth period set by employers, and subject to the necessary work being done. The total working time required of employees on an approved Flextime schedule is much the same as those who work under traditional work schedule regimes.

Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation without good reason. Generally, absenteeism refers to unplanned absences. Absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer. It is seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or quasi-economic terms. More recent scholarship seeks to understand absenteeism as an indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work.

Organisational climate is a concept that has academic meaning in the fields of organisational behaviour and I/O psychology as well as practical meaning in the business world There is continued scholarly debate about the exact definition of organisational climate for the purposes of scientific study. The definition developed by Lawrence R. James (1943-2014) and his colleagues makes a distinction between psychological and organisational climate.

"Psychological climate is defined as the individual employee’s perception of the psychological impact of the work environment on his or her own well-being. When employees in a particular work unit agree on their perceptions of the impact of their work environment, their shared perceptions can be aggregated to describe their organisational climate ."

Presenteeism or working while sick is the act or culture of employees continuing to work as a performative measure, despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. Reduced productivity during presenteeism is often due to illness, injury, exhaustion, or other conditions, but presenteeism can also describe working while contagiously sick, which has the added risk of creating a workplace epidemic.

Workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm. It includes verbal, nonverbal, psychological, and physical abuse, as well as humiliation. This type of workplace aggression is particularly difficult because, unlike typical school bullies, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of both their organization and society. In most cases, workplace bullying is reported as being carried out by someone who is in a position of authority over the victim. However, bullies can also be peers or subordinates. When subordinates participate in bullying, this is referred to as ‘upwards bullying.’ The least visible form of workplace bullying involves upwards bullying where bullying tactics are manipulated and applied against a superior, often for strategically motivated outcomes.

Workplace wellness, also known as corporate wellbeing outside the United States, is a broad term used to describe activities, programs, and/or organizational policies designed to support healthy behavior in the workplace. This often involves health education, medical screenings, weight management programs, and onsite fitness programs or facilities. It can also include flex-time for exercise, providing onsite kitchen and eating areas, offering healthy food options in vending machines, holding "walk and talk" meetings, and offering financial and other incentives for participation.

Sick leave is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sick leave is intended for health-related purposes. Sick leave can include a mental health day and taking time away from work to go to a scheduled doctor's appointment. Some policies also allow paid sick time to be used to care for sick family members, or to address health and safety needs related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Menstrual leave is another type of time off work for a health-related reason, but it is not always paid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Cooper</span> British academic and psychologist (born 1940)

Sir Cary Lynn Cooper, is an American-born British psychologist and 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.

Quality of working life (QWL) describes a person's broader employment-related experience. Various authors and researchers have proposed models of quality of working life – also referred to as quality of worklife – which include a wide range of factors, sometimes classified as "motivator factors" which if present can make the job experience a positive one, and "hygiene factors" which if lacking are more associated with dissatisfaction. A number of rating scales have been developed aiming to measure overall quality of working life or certain aspects thereof. Some publications have drawn attention to the importance of QWL for both employees and employers, and also for national economic performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development</span> UK professional association

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is an association for human resource management professionals. Its headquarters are in Wimbledon, London, England. The organisation was founded in 1913—it is the world's oldest association in its field and has over 160,000 members internationally working across private, public and voluntary sectors. Peter Cheese was announced in June 2012 as CIPD's new CEO from July 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupational stress</span> Tensions related to work

Occupational stress is psychological stress related to one's job. Occupational stress refers to a chronic condition. Occupational stress can be managed by understanding what the stressful conditions at work are and taking steps to remediate those conditions. Occupational stress can occur when workers do not feel supported by supervisors or coworkers, feel as if they have little control over the work they perform, or find that their efforts on the job are incommensurate with the job's rewards. Occupational stress is a concern for both employees and employers because stressful job conditions are related to employees' emotional well-being, physical health, and job performance. The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization conducted a study. The results showed that exposure to long working hours, operates through increased psycho-social occupational stress. It is the occupational risk factor with the largest attributable burden of disease, according to these official estimates causing an estimated 745,000 workers to die from ischemic heart disease and stroke events in 2016.

Employee retention is the ability of an organization to retain its employees and ensure sustainability. Employee retention can be represented by a simple statistic. Employee retention is also the strategies employers use to try to retain the employees in their workforce.

Workplace harassment is belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers.

Workplace health promotion is the combined efforts of employers, employees, and society to improve the mental and physical health and well-being of people at work. The term workplace health promotion denotes a comprehensive analysis and design of human and organizational work levels with the strategic aim of developing and improving health resources in an enterprise. The World Health Organization has prioritized the workplace as a setting for health promotion because of the large potential audience and influence on all spheres of a person's life. The Luxembourg Declaration provides that health and well-being of employees at work can be achieved through a combination of:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental illness in fly-in fly-out workers</span>

Fly-in fly-out (FIFO) work practices in Australia occur amongst various professions primarily associated within the resources industry as well as medical and related health services. Following the recession of the 1980s, Australia has experienced a resources boom that has seen thousands of families impacted by FIFO work. The FIFO lifestyle often sees workers on a scheduled roster flying to remote locations. Workers live in serviced accommodation, working long days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effects of overtime</span> Effects caused by overtime

Employees who work overtime hours experience numerous mental, physical, and social effects. In a landmark study, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization estimated that over 745,000 people died from ischemic heart disease or stroke in 2016 as a result of having worked 55 hours or more per week. Significant effects include stress, lack of free time, poor work-life balance, and health risks. Employee performance levels could also be lowered. Long work hours could lead to tiredness, fatigue, and lack of attentiveness. As a result, suggestions have been proposed for risk mitigation.

A flexible work arrangement (FWA) empowers an employee to choose what time they begin to work, where to work, and when they will stop work. The idea is to help manage work-life balance and benefits of FWA can include reduced employee stress and increased overall job satisfaction. On the contrary, some refrain from using their FWA as they fear the lack of visibility can negatively affect their career. Overall, this type of arrangement has a positive effect on incompatible work/family responsibilities, which can be seen as work affecting family responsibilities or family affecting work responsibilities. FWA is also helpful to those who have a medical condition or an intensive care-giving responsibility, where without FWA, part-time work would be the only option.

Menopause in the workplace is a social and human resources campaigning issue in which people work to raise awareness of the impact menopause symptoms can have on attendance and performance in the workplace.

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is a term used in organisational psychology that refers to the shared belief held by workers that their psychological health and safety is protected and supported by senior management. PSC builds on other work stress theories and concerns the corporate climate for worker psychological health and safety. Studies have found that a favourable PSC is associated with low rates of absenteeism and high productivity, while a poor climate is linked to high levels of workplace stress and job dissatisfaction. PSC can be promoted by organisational practices, policies and procedures that prioritise the psychosocial safety and wellbeing of workers. The theory has implications for the design of workplaces for the best possible outcomes for both workers and management.

References

  1. ↑ Hesketh, I; Cooper, C (2014). "Leaveism at work". Occupational Medicine. 64 (3): 146–147. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqu025 . PMID   24706465.
  2. ↑ Johns, G (2010). "Presenteeism in the workplace: A review of the research agenda". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 31: 519–542. doi: 10.1002/job.630 .
  3. ↑ Hesketh, I; Cooper, C; Ivy, J (2014). "Leaveism and public sector reform: Will the practice continue?". Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance. 1 (2): 205–212. doi:10.1108/joepp-03-2014-0012.
  4. ↑ Hesketh, I; Cooper, C; Ivy, J (2015). "Leaveism and Work-Life Integration: The Thinning Blue Line?". Policing. 9 (2): 183–194. doi:10.1093/police/pau029.
  5. ↑ Miller, D (1981). "The 'Sandwich' Generation: Adult Children of the Aging". Social Work (26): 419–423. doi:10.1093/sw/26.5.419.
  6. ↑ Hesketh, I; Cooper, C (2017). Managing Health and Wellbeing in the Public Sector. New York: Routledge. ISBN   978-1138929203.
  7. ↑ Ellis et al, (2023)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1748-8583.12452
  8. ↑ Hesketh,I.,Cooper,C.(2022) Managing Workplace Health and Wellbeing During a Crisis.https://www.koganpage.com/hr-learning-development/managing-workplace-health-and-wellbeing-during-a-crisis-9781398601222#
  9. ↑ Gerich, J (2015). "Leaveism and illness-related behaviour". Occupational Medicine. 65 (9): 746–752. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqv125 . PMID   26409053.
  10. ↑ "CIPD Wellbeing Survey 2021" (PDF). CIPD. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  11. ↑ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "BBC Worklife 101". BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  12. ↑ Houdmont, J. "Officer Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey Descriptive Statistics Summary Report Absence Behaviours January, 2017" (PDF). Police Federation England and Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Fekedulegn D, Burchfiel CM, Hartley TA, Andrew ME, Charles LE, Tinney-Zara CA, Violanti JM. Shiftwork and sickness absence among police officers: the BCOPS study. Chronobiol Int. 2013 Aug;30(7):930-41. doi: 10.3109/07420528.2013.790043. Epub 2013 Jun 28. PMID 23808812; PMCID: PMC4624272.
  14. ↑ "Health and Well-being at Work". CIPD and Simply Health.
  15. ↑ Deloitte. "Mental Health and Employers". Deloitte. Deloitte UK. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  16. ↑ Hesketh, I., Cooper, C. (2023) Wellbeing at Work: How to Design, Implement and Evaluate an Effective Strategy. KoganPage. London
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.