Absenteeism and Presenteeism in Times of Change: The Role of Stress and Job Satisfaction

This study investigates sickness absenteeism and sickness presenteeism in the context of organizational development (OD) changes in the police force, focusing on health-related and motivational pathways. Using panel data from 407 employees from 36 Danish police units (1,021 observations), we analyze attendance patterns before the change, immediately after, and 1 year later. Findings reveal that sickness absenteeism is primarily influenced by the type of OD change rather than by job satisfaction or stress, while sickness presenteeism decreases with higher job satisfaction independent of the change type. Notably, employees experiencing an OD change aimed at supporting a long-term vision exhibit reduced sickness absence in the change period. OD changes focused on distributed leadership and enhancing employee motivation did not have the same effect on sickness absenteeism. These results underscore the importance of considering both motivational and health-related dynamics, as well as the type of change, in understanding attendance during OD change.