Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/110744 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9015
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Presenteeism, i.e. attending work while sick, is widespread and associated with significant costs. Still, economic analyses of this phenomenon are rare. In a theoretical model, we show that presenteeism arises due to differences between workers in (health-related) disutility from workplace attendance. As these differences are unobservable by employers, they set wages that incentivise sick workers to attend work. Using a large representative German data set, we test several hypotheses derived from our model. In line with our predictions, we find that bad health status and stressful working conditions are positively related to presenteeism. Better dismissal protection, captured by higher tenure, is associated with slightly fewer presenteeism days, whereas the role of productivity and skills is inconclusive.
Subjects: 
presenteeism
absenteeism
sick leave
Germany
JEL: 
I19
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
411.18 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.