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Sickness Presence at Work Pre and Post Pandemic

Christopher R. Warren, Muskan Jumani, Julianna Martin, Giovanna Pineda, Maegan Schmitz, and Syeda Ullah

Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach

ABSTRACT

The current study aimed to recognize the fundamental causes of sickness presence, as well as develop a reliable and valid measure of predicting one’s propensity to attend work settings while sick. In addition, self-report measurements were taken pre and post a global pandemic by way of online survey, which allows for the assessment of changes in overall likelihood of attending work with a contagious disease. The proposed measure of sickness presence demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability at both time periods, and the overall propensity to attend work sick seems to have declined from pre to post pandemic periods. Correlations with other known constructs were collected as well to illustrate convergent validity evidence for the proposed scale, and in line with predictions, sickness presence significantly correlated positively with self-reported attendance at work while sick (r = .468, p < .001), and negatively with prosocial behaviors (r = -.185, p = .007) and self-esteem (r = -.215, p < .001). The use of such a measure is recommended to enhance workplace and community safety, and guidelines are suggested to equitably provide for sick leave across employment types.

PREDICTIONS

METHODS

BACKGROUND

• Studies indicate that more than 80% of employees have gone to work even though they should have stayed home, resulting in many unused sick days each year.
• The goal of this study is to develop a psychometric measure for assessing the propensity to show up to work sick, with an emphasis on work presence with a contagious illness.
• The single-item previously used to assess SP consists of: Has it happened over the previous 12 months that you have gone to work despite feeling that you really should have taken sick leave due to your state of health (Aronsson, Gustavsson & Dallner, 2000), with responses based on the frequency of occurrence (none to more than 5 times).
• During the pandemic, fear of contagion and perceived unsafety at work, in regards to health, reduced employees’ tendency to work while ill (Luksyte et al., 2015).
• Studies such as Johnson et al. (2021) found that COVID has influenced sick employees’s decision making processes when deciding whether or not to show up to work sick. Specifically, a shift from self-focused decision making to contagion-risk decision making has reduced the frequency of showing up to work sick

Participants and Procedures

Phase 1: 48 respondents took a 59-item survey based on a Likert type Scale ranging from disagree to strongly agree.

Phase 2: Approximately 350 respondents, aged 18-30 who are working, were recruited to determine if any proposed items should be eliminated or further altered to better measure SP. They were recruited through social media and a research opportunity listing to better acquire a diverse group of people.

Measures

• Sickness presence scale
• 5-10 item scale
• Multiple items to test internal validity
• Likert type scale: ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree
• Open-ended questions to capture motives behind SP
• Self-Esteem scale by Rosenberg (1965)
• Blood’s Protestant Work Ethic Scale (1969)
• Sarnoff’s Survey of Attitude Towards Life Scale (Bray & Grant, 1966)
• Turnover Intent Inventory (Adams & Beehr, 1998)
• Big 5 – Conscientiousness (John & Srivastava, 1999)
• Prosocial Scale by McNeely & Melingo (1994)

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DISCUSSION

• Most people show up to work even if they have a contagious illness that could potentially infect co-workers.
• Financial concerns, job security, or organizational culture may all affect an individuals’ decision to use sick time.
• Establishing that that seemingly positive, selected upon traits such as conscientious workers will show up to work sick, but not be concerned about infecting co-workers.
• We hope that in developing a reliable measure, necessary steps can be taken to explore the topic in greater depth.
• Initial correlations provide positive support for the multifaceted nature of SP and initial validity for the construct.

RESULTS

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• All previously validated scales showed acceptable ranges of reliabilities (α = .70 - .88)
• Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a multi-dimensional structure to the data, with two factors emerging
• One factor represented items of sickness at work and the other focusing on contagiousness related items
• Unique correlations with each factor were evident:
• Higher levels of Self Esteem were correlated with lower levels of showing up sick (r = .122), not with the items related to infecting others
• Some variables operated differently than expected:
• Tendencies toward Prosocial behaviors correlated positively with each dimension
• Sickness presence as an idea went down pre to post COVID
• Showing up to work sick in the past correlates with SP

CORRELATIONS

Time 1

Time 2