IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/econwp/2021-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Presenteeism when employers are under pressure: Evidence from a high-stakes environment

Author

Listed:
  • Mario Lackner
  • Hendrik Sonnabend

    (Fernuni Hagen)

Abstract

This study analyses whether the decision to work while sick can be linked to workload fluctuations. Drawing on data collected from professional soccer, we exploit the dynamics of a season and use additional (national and international) cup games conducted in the second half of a season as a source of exogenous variation. We find robust evidence that players are 6.1 percentage points more likely to return from injuries earlier than expected when their teams are exposed to a high workload. The effect is driven by players who are more important to their teams and those who are less vulnerable to injuries. Finally, we find that presenteeism comes at the cost of an early comeback significantly shortening the time until the next injury by approximately 27 days.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Lackner & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2021. "Presenteeism when employers are under pressure: Evidence from a high-stakes environment," Economics working papers 2021-20, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2021-20
    Note: English
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2021/wp2120.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy C. Y. Chan & Douglas Fearing, 2019. "Process Flexibility in Baseball: The Value of Positional Flexibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(4), pages 1642-1666, April.
    2. Sarah Crichton & Steven Stillman & Dean Hyslop, 2011. "Returning to Work from Injury: Longitudinal Evidence on Employment and Earnings," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(4), pages 765-785, July.
    3. Simen Markussen, 2012. "The individual cost of sick leave," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1287-1306, October.
    4. Galizzi, Monica & Boden, Leslie I., 2003. "The return to work of injured workers: evidence from matched unemployment insurance and workers' compensation data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 311-337, June.
    5. Jeanine Miklós-Thal & Hannes Ullrich, 2016. "Career Prospects and Effort Incentives: Evidence from Professional Soccer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1645-1667, June.
    6. Huong Trang Kim & Quang Nguyen, 2022. "An exploration on the nexus between managers’ present bias and corporate investment," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 150-154, January.
    7. Boris HirschBy & Daniel S. J. Lechmann & Claus Schnabel, 2017. "Coming to work while sick: an economic theory of presenteeism with an application to German data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1010-1031.
    8. Godøy, Anna & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2018. "Spillovers from gatekeeping – Peer effects in absenteeism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 190-204.
    9. Barmby, Tim & Sessions, John G. & Zangelidis, Alexandros, 2016. "Looking after number two? Competition, cooperation and workplace interaction," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 166-182.
    10. Kevin Callison & Michael F. Pesko, 2022. "The Effect of Paid Sick Leave Mandates on Coverage, Work Absences, and Presenteeism," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(4), pages 1178-1208.
    11. Ian Gregory‐Smith, 2021. "Wages And Labor Productivity: Evidence From Injuries In The National Football League," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 829-847, April.
    12. Olsson, Martin, 2009. "Employment protection and sickness absence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 208-214, April.
    13. Phong T. H. Ngo & Steven Roberts, 2021. "There is no ‘I’ in team: Career concerns, risk‐taking incentives, and team outcomes," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 122-138, February.
    14. Diane R. Skåtun & John Douglas Skåtun, 2004. "The Impact of Turnout on Turning Up: The Complementarity of Attendance among Co-Workers," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 83(3), pages 225-242, December.
    15. Karol Kempa, 2022. "Task-specific human capital and returns to specialization: evidence from association football [All about balance? A test of the jack-of-all-trades theory using military enlistment data]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 136-154.
    16. Mark V. Pauly & Sean Nicholson & Judy Xu & Dan Polsky & Patricia M. Danzon & James F. Murray & Marc L. Berger, 2002. "A general model of the impact of absenteeism on employers and employees," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(3), pages 221-231, April.
    17. Daniel Arnold, 2016. "Determinants of the Annual Duration of Sickness Presenteeism: Empirical Evidence from European Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(2), pages 198-212, June.
    18. Alex Krumer & Michael Lechner, 2018. "Midweek Effect On Soccer Performance: Evidence From The German Bundesliga," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 193-207, January.
    19. Skagen, Kristian & Collins, Alison M., 2016. "The consequences of sickness presenteeism on health and wellbeing over time: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 169-177.
    20. Kivimäki, M. & Head, J. & Ferrie, J.E. & Hemingway, H. & Shipley, M.J. & Vahtera, J. & Marmot, M.G., 2005. "Working while III as a risk factor for serious coronary events: The whitehall II study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(1), pages 98-102.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yulia Chikish & Brad R. Humphreys, "undated". "The Impact of Health Shocks on Worker Performance: Evidence from Professional Sports," Working Papers 24-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Hiesinger, Karolin, 2020. "Dismissal Protection and Long-term Sickness Absence - First Evidence from Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 202022, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Hiesinger, Karolin, 2020. "Dismissal protection and long-term sickness absence: First evidence from Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-040, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Claus Schnabel, 2022. "Presenteeism at the workplace," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 495-495, May.
    4. Sylvie Hamon-Cholet & Joseph Lanfranchi, 2019. "Le présentéisme au travail. Mieux évaluer pour mieux prévenir," Working Papers halshs-02170962, HAL.
    5. Boris HirschBy & Daniel S. J. Lechmann & Claus Schnabel, 2017. "Coming to work while sick: an economic theory of presenteeism with an application to German data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1010-1031.
    6. Bubonya, Melisa & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Wooden, Mark, 2017. "Mental health and productivity at work: Does what you do matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 150-165.
    7. Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "An Inquiry Into The Theory, Causes And Consequences Of Monitoring Indicators Of Health And Safety At Work," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-120, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    8. Stefan Pichler & Nicolas R. Ziebarth, 2015. "The Pros and Cons of Sick Pay Schemes: Testing for Contagious Presenteeism and Shirking Behavior," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1509, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2019. "Reprint of: The pros and cons of sick pay schemes: Testing for contagious presenteeism and noncontagious absenteeism behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 86-104.
    10. Vincenzo Scoppa & Daniela Vuri, 2014. "Absenteeism, unemployment and employment protection legislation: evidence from Italy," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Thomas Leoni & René Böheim, 2018. "Fehlzeitenreport 2018. Krankheits- und unfallbedingte Fehlzeiten in Österreich – Präsentismus und Absentismus," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61487.
    12. Willén, Alexander & Willage, Barton & Riise, Julie, 2022. "Employment Protection and Child Development," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 19/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    13. Daniel Kim, 2017. "Paid Sick Leave and Risks of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality among Adult Workers in the USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-10, October.
    14. Gail Kinman & Andrew J. Clements, 2022. "Sickness Presenteeism in Prison Officers: Risk Factors and Implications for Wellbeing and Productivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-10, March.
    15. Mark L. Bryan & Andrew M. Bryce & Jennifer Roberts, 2022. "Dysfunctional presenteeism: Effects of physical and mental health on work performance," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(4), pages 409-438, July.
    16. Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2017. "The pros and cons of sick pay schemes: Testing for contagious presenteeism and noncontagious absenteeism behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 14-33.
    17. Goerke, Laszlo & Pannenberg, Markus, 2015. "Trade union membership and sickness absence: Evidence from a sick pay reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 13-25.
    18. Chadi, Adrian & Goerke, Laszlo, 2018. "Missing at work – Sickness-related absence and subsequent career events," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 153-176.
    19. Arnold, Daniel Timo & de Pinto, Marco, 2015. "Sickness absence, presenteeism and work-related characteristics," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113118, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Yulia Chikish & Brad R. Humphreys, "undated". "The Impact of Health Shocks on Worker Performance: Evidence from Professional Sports," Working Papers 24-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sickness absence; presenteeism; workload variations; soccer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • Z2 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2021-20. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.