Prevalence of Presenteeism in Agricultural Workers: Systematic Review

Presenteeism, the act of showing up to work when one is ill, is a prevailing global phenomenon, at rates varying from 30% to 90%. Presenteeism results in consequences to the worker's health, like pain, depression, and poor work ability, as well as consequences to the organization like productivity loss, negative feelings and engagement of coworkers, and risk of accidents. Agriculture is an important sector for the global economy, providing employment for 27% of the global workforce. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of presenteeism and its associated factors among agricultural workers.

A systematic review was performed through searches at PubMed, Web of Science, LILACS, SciELO, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases. Observational studies (cross-sectional, cohort or case-control) that reported the prevalence of presenteeism in agricultural workers were eligible.

A total of 139 studies were found but only two met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies reported prevalence rates of presenteeism of 5.0% and 58.2%. Poor work safety climate, female workers, workers dissatisfied with management, and sunscreen not available at the workplace were strongly associated with the prevalence of presenteeism.

We concluded that the scientific literature about the prevalence of presenteeism among agricultural workers is scarce. Future studies about presenteeism among agricultural workers should measure the prevalence and/or incidence of presenteeism by using the epidemiological approach and, furthermore, should integrate these measures with the work productivity approach.