Presenteeism in Finland: Determinants by Gender and the Sector of Economy

We study the prevalence of sickness presenteeism, using survey data covering 725 Finnish union members in 2008. Controlling for worker characteristics, we find that sickness presenteeism is sensitive to working-time arrangements. Permanent full-time work, mismatch between desired and actual working hours, shift or period work and overlong working weeks generally increase the prevalence of sickness presenteeism. The estimates by gender suggest that participation in permanent full-time work has an effect on presenteeism only for women. Furthermore, the adoption of three days‟ paid sickness absence without a sickness certificate and the easing of efficiency demands decrease sickness presenteeism especially in private services