Introduction
Presenteeism, attending work while ill, has an impact on organizations’ productivity and employees’ health. Despite it being widespread, this global phenomenon is understudied in the tourism and hospitality sector.
Overview
The Tourism and Hospitality sector has a service – based operating environment, requiring substantial quantities of customer – employee interactions (face-to-face or voice-to-voice) through multiple touch points across the entire service delivery process. Employees are subjected to a plethora of conflicting demands and expectations from both customers and supervisors. In situations where the quality of the delivered services depends on employees’ well-being, the occurrence of presenteeism decreases productivity and increases physical and mental health issues among employees, all of which leads to poor service quality.
Even though many Tourism and Hospitality organizations have developed wellness programs and initiatives for their employees, recent studies revealed that employees could not spare enough time to participate in these wellness programs. Busy work shifts, the impossibility of changing shifts, rigid schedules, and long working hours were some of the reasons mentioned by employees.
Therefore, it is essential to undertake more research to identify the motives for practicing presenteeism. The aim of this research is to examine the relationships of presenteeism with both work-related factors and non-work-related factors (individual attitudes and sociodemographic indicators).
Presenteeism is a growing issue in the workplace. Regarding the definition and study of presenteeism, two main approaches to understanding the phenomenon have dominated the literature. The first approach, which is prevalent in the occupational medicine literature, concerns the reduction in productivity due to persons’ health challenges or attending work while ill.
In conclusion, Human resources in Tourism and Hospitality organizations are critical for service quality, customer satisfaction, and organizational performance. Tourism and Hospitality employees who practice presenteeism are more likely to take sick leave for longer periods or leave their jobs.
References
Motivating frontline employees: Role of job characteristics in work and life satisfaction
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. X.R. Zhao(2016)
Job satisfaction and employee turnover determinants in high contact services: Insights from Employees’ Online reviews
Tourism Management. P. Stamolampros(2019)
Article by Ngao Anthony
