P-424 Presenteeism and Its Impact on Safety and Productivity in Contract Workers in India

Introduction Health issues at the workplace poses a great threat to the health and safety of the workforce leading to increased absenteeism, increased staff turnover and reduced productivity. In the modern era, a new concept came into light, that is Presenteeism. Presenteeism is when an employee or a worker is present at the job, but due to the person’s ailment or medical conditions, not fully functioning at work. Presenteeism proves to be much costlier problem than its productivity reducing counterpart, Absenteeism. Methods Literature review, survey using Stanford Presenteeism Scale-6 (SPS-6) and Employee Job Performance Scale. A combination of methods were used to get a comprehensive understanding of presenteeism in the workplace. Each method has its strengths and limitations, and triangulating the data from multiple sources can provide a more accurate and holistic picture of the phenomenon. Results Results of the study shows that almost 54% workers performed their even when they were facing some medical issues. The findings indicated a correlation between higher levels of presenteeism and decreased job satisfaction and engagement among contract workers. Presenteeism exhibited a detrimental effect on workplace safety, with contract workers who persisted in working while unwell reporting increased frequency of near-miss incidents when compared to their healthier counterparts. Contract workers who exhibited presenteeism were found to have reduced productivity levels. Discussion Presenteeism affects safety in a negative way and reduces productivity in the workplace. Conclusion Presenteeism is posing new challenge to workplace health, safety and productivity. Issue has to be addressed in modern context.