What to do about “presenteeism”?
Presenteeism refers to a phenomenon that is all too common these days. When an employee just shows up for work, but for any of number of reasons, doesn’t really give it his/her best, that can have devastating consequences for any company in this economic climate. Who doesn’t know someone who has been “turned off” by their job lately, by being overworked, underappreciated, or given more responsibility with no hope for recognition? Or had their salary or benefits cut, after being told they should just be happy to have a job? Well, what if that’s all there is? If an employee is just happy to have a job, but feels isolated and unappreciated, presenteeism is a likely outcome. I’m interested in your ideas about how to combat presenteeism, and I’ll share some of mine on my next post.
Cathy Poliak's HR blog 
Cathy,
I missed you talk today! How did it go?
The radio show today was great – thanks for asking! I was on KVON 1440 with Lisa Batto today, talking about some of the human resources issues that businesses are experiencing as they work to survive in this economy. We talked about the importance of compliance, but also going beyond that. For example, making sure your staff has the right skills and talents, that you give performance feedback to help people do their best, and having ongoing communication with employees.