The Impact of Workload, Co-Worker Pressure and Supervisor Pressure on Employee Presenteeism: An Empirical Study on Sri Lankan Employees in Colombo District

Abstract

Presenteeism is one of the major contemporary issues in Human Resource Management (HRM) as it negatively impacts on worker productivity and ultimately on organizational productivity and goal achievement. Objectives of the study were; (1) to find the degree of presenteeism of Sri Lankan employees in Colombo District who are under the study; (2) to find the impact of workload on employee presenteeism; (3) to find the impact of co-worker pressure on employee presenteeism; (4) to find the impact of supervisor pressure on employee presenteeism; (5) to find the overall impact of workload, co-worker pressure and supervisor pressure on employee presenteeism; and (6) to investigate whether there is any significant difference between male and female
employees under study in terms of presenteeism. A theoretical framework was formulated based on some empirical evidences in literature review and logical beliefs of the authors. Three different instruments were developed by the authors to measure the
degree of workload, co-worker pressure, and supervisor pressure while Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS) was utilized to measure employee presenteeism. Reliability and validity of the instruments are assured. Survey method was utilized and 72 employees responded to the questionnaire through the sampling technique of convenient sampling technique. The empirical findings revealed that the degree of employee presenteeism is between average and high and there is a significant positive impact from workload, co-worker pressure and supervisor pressure on employee presenteeism which means that higher the workload, co-worker pressure and supervisor pressure, higher the presenteeism will be. Further it was revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female employees who are under this study in terms of presenteeism.

Key Words: Presenteeism, Workload, Co-worker Pressure, Supervisor Pressure