Released on = January 26, 2007, 8:03 am

Press Release Author = Multicultural Business Council

Industry = Small Business

Press Release Summary = Presenteeism, which refers to sick employees who come to
work instead of staying at home, now surpasses $180 billion annually. Absenteeism,
where the employee does not report to work, costs $118 billion annually and medical
expenses and lost productivity.

Press Release Body = The cost of presenteeism has now surpassed the cost of
absenteeism. Presenteeism, referring to sick employees who come to work instead of
staying at home, now surpasses $180 billion annually. Absenteeism, where the
employee does not report to work, costs $118 billion annually and medical expenses
and lost productivity.

Employee "illness" can be grouped into five different categories. The Society for
Human Resource Management (SHRM) breaks down the impact in this way:
1. Personal illnesses account for 35%
2. Family issues make up 21%
3. Personal needs combine for 18%
4. An entitlement mentality accounts for 14%
5. Stress makes up the final 12%

SHRM figures refer to absenteeism alone, therefore may not be applicable in the same
percentages to presenteeism. However all instances of presenteeism will fall in one
of the categories. This occurs when, for example, an employee has family issues to
deal with however they do not feel the entire day needs to be taken off of work.
They will make the necessary phone calls to resolve the family issues on company
time. In the case of the entitlement mentality, when employees see other employees
taking long lunches or breaks or making personal phone calls on company time they
feel they are also entitled to do the same.

It is important to note that in some cases presenteeism contributes to the cost of
absenteeism. This occurs when an employee is contagious and spreads germs to other
employees in the workplace. These newly infected employees will elect to deal with
their illness through either absenteeism or presenteeism.

A likely culprit in the increase of presenteeism is a lack of "no-fault" sick time.
No-fault sick time refers to allowing employees to take their sick time without
having to provide an explanation of why the time is taken. This reduces the amount
of presenteeism as employees no longer feel they must act sick to qualify for a sick
day. However once an employee begins to run out of sick time, or is only allowed
minimal sick time during the year, presenteeism becomes a manner of choice when
dealing with the five areas identified by SHRM.

According to Multicultural Business Council (MBC), a cultural empowerment
organization based near Detroit, Michigan, absenteeism policies are creating
specific cultures within the larger corporate culture. When an employee changes
jobs from a company that has a restrictive absenteeism policy to a company with a
less restrictive absenteeism policy, they will quickly learn to adapt to the new
culture. However, employees moving in the opposite direction, from less restrictive
to more restrictive absenteeism policies will take longer to adopt to the culture of
the company.

"It seems an entitlement mentality is a key player as employees look at sick pay
policies at their company versus the policies at companies have previously worked
with or have friends or family working for," according to MBC spokesman Rick Weaver.
"Understanding the motivational factors of a team of employees can reduce the
negative impact from presenteeism and absenteeism."

Web Site = http://www.mbcglobal.org

Contact Details = Rick Weaver||1720 Northumberland Drive, Suite 202||Rochester Hills
, 48309||$$country||||248-802-6138||rick@mbcglobal.org||http://www.mbcglobal.org