Abstrakt:

This thesis examines the phenomenon of "sickness presenteeism". Sickness presenteeism is when employees go to work, despite the fact that they feel sick. The research question for this thesis involves a study of the characteristics of sickness presenteeism (the extent, the type and the reason for presenteeism) and the correlation between the characteristics of sickness presenteeism and the psy- chological work environment. Three theoretical perspectives define the psychological work environment: “social capital”, “the six best bets” and “organizational culture”.

The thesis investigates sickness presenteeism and the psychological work environment in relation to a numerically large group in Denmark - public administrative employees. Due to the fact that this large group of employees has not been subject to substantial research previously, this thesis not only contributes with new knowledge about sickness presenteeism, but also provides new knowledge regarding a group of employees that has not been investigated in relation to sickness presenteeism.

Method:

The results of this thesis are based on a methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches. Correspondence analysis has been used as part of creating an overall picture of the psychological work environment, as this creates the possibility to examine the connection between sickness presenteeism and the psychological work environment. Therefore, "a psychological work space" has been created from variables which have a connection to both sickness presenteeism (inspiration from previous research) and the theories “social capital” and “the six best bets”. The qualitative part of the thesis is based on the theory about organizational culture and hence, there has been an examination of relationships in a workplace that are not quantitative measurable. On the basis of the qualitative research and the correspondence analysis, the thesis has created an overall picture of the psychological work environment where the correlation to sickness presenteeism is examined.

Results:

The conclusions of the thesis can be divided into three levels, all of which relates to the characteristics of sickness presenteeism and its correlation to the psychological work environment. The first level relates to the clear characteristics of sickness presenteeism where the public administrative employees express the extent, the dominant types as well as the most common reasons for sickness presenteeism. 78,7% of the public administrative employees exerts sickness presenteeism at least 1 time per year. The two dominant types of sickness presenteeism are related to the physical health and are seen in the form of cold or other temporary illnesses (57,3%), and muscle pain and arthralgia (27,4%). Compared to the type of sickness presenteeism, it is not possible to find single domi- nating reasons for sickness presenteeism. However, the results from the thesis show that the reasons for sickness presenteeism depend on the job titles of employees.

The second level relates to the relationship between the characteristics of sickness presenteeism and the psychological work environment. Overall, it can be concluded that the psychological work environment influences the extent, type and reason for sickness presenteeism of the public administrative employees. By this, it is meant that public administrative employees who experience a negative psychological work environment (low social capital and unbalance between the six best bets) also are a part of the group that experience the most sickness presenteeism. Furthermore, this group also experiences specific types and reasons for sickness presenteeism that are related to the conditions in the job.

The third level deals with the less measurable elements in the psychological work environment. The qualitative part of the thesis has shown that the community at a workplace and its latent norms and values has an influence on sickness presenteeism of the public administrative employees. These latent factors have explanatory power in relation to the extent, type and reason to sickness presenteeism.
Alongside the fact that this thesis contributes with new knowledge within research on sickness presenteeism, the results of this thesis also sheds light on a new perspective when investigating this phenomenon. The results of the thesis are questioning whether sickness presenteeism only should be perceived as a negative phenomenon or if sickness presenteeism also should be acknowledged for any possible positive effects for the employees.