Sickness Presence among Teachers, Nurses and Private Sector Office Workers

Sickness presence is used to denote an employee who feels unwell but still attends work, thus avoiding absence. The intention of this paper is to compare sickness presence in a group of the following professions: teachers, nurses and private sector office workers.

For the purpose of this study, a survey based on the original PAPI form (Paper-and-Pen Personal Interview) was carried out. Non-probability sampling, the snowball method (N = 507: teachers n = 174, nurses n = 165 and private sector office workers n = 168), covering the whole of Poland, was adopted. Non-parametric hypotheses were verified using the chi-squared test with a statistical significance α = 0.05.

Compared to nurses and private sector office workers, teachers more frequently attended work when sick (p < 0.05). Out of the reported ailments that respondents worked with, teachers more often indicated rhinitis (p < 0.05), sore throat and cough (p < 0.05) and increased temperature (p < 0.05). This may be associated with a threat to the health of individuals in their charge. Teachers commonly complained about joint and bone pain (p < 0.05) and gastrointestinal disorders (p < 0.05). Contrary to nurses and private sector office workers, teachers did not point to 'lack of a replacement' as the reason for their presence at work when sick (p < 0.05). Exclusively, teachers added financial issues and difficulties in access to healthcare if they are working fewer hours to the list of reasons for attending work when sick.

Results suggest that there is a need for further studies on the presence of sick employees in the workplace, especially for teachers. The sickness presence of teachers and nurses may be a threat from a public health perspective. The workplace itself is a significant place to prevent many diseases.