Working hours vanish as the absence bug bites : In and out of the workplace

During the 1980s, a new word came into common usage in the UK to describe a phenomenon that was typical of that aggressively enterprise‐driven decade. “Presenteeism” was a witty reference to workers who were reluctant to leave the workplace, always staying longer than their peers to establish their credentials as carriers of the work ethic torch. Generally, this posturing achieved nothing but neither was it particularly damaging. Employee absenteeism, on the other hand, has long been the subject of research and debate because it is so costly.