Absenteeism and Presenteeism among Care Workers in Swiss Nursing Homes and Their Association with Psychosocial Work Environment: A Multi-Site Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Worker productivity is central to the success of organizations such as healthcare institutions. However, both absenteeism and presenteeism impair that productivity. While various hospital studies have examined the prevalence of presenteeism and absenteeism and its associated factors among care workers, evidence from nursing home settings is scarce. OBJECTIVE: To explore care workers' self-reported absenteeism and presenteeism in relation to nursing homes' psychosocial work environment factors. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study utilizing survey data of 3,176 professional care workers in 162 Swiss nursing homes collected between May 2012 and April 2013. A generalized estimating equation ordinal logistic regression model was used to explore associations between psychosocial work environment factors (leadership, staffing resources, work stressors, affective organizational commitment, collaboration with colleagues and supervisors, support from other personnel, job satisfaction, job autonomy) and self-reported absenteeism and presenteeism. RESULTS: Absenteeism and presenteeism were observed in 15.6 and 32.9% of care workers, respectively. While absenteeism showed no relationship with the work environment, low presenteeism correlated with high leadership ratings (odds ratio [OR] 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.48) and adequate staffing resources (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02-1.38). CONCLUSION: Self-reported presenteeism is more common than absenteeism in Swiss nursing homes, and leadership and staffing resource adequacy are significantly associated with presenteeism, but not with absenteeism.