Is work-family conflict associated with health-related absenteeism and presenteeism among Japanese workers?

While work-family conflict (WFC) has been reported to exert adverse effects on workers' health conditions, evidence linking WFC to presenteeism and absenteeism is not only limited in number but also geographically biased.

To examine the associations of WFC with health-related presenteeism and absenteeism among Japanese workers.

This study was conducted as part of the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health study in which we used questionnaire information collected from 7766 workers from five worksites. Absenteeism was defined when they took at least half a day off in the past month. Presenteeism, defined as self-rated poor work performance, was assessed on a scale ranging from 10% to 100%, with those reporting 10-60% classified as poor performance. WFC was assessed using eight items (0-16 scores) with participants categorized into quartiles based on the WFC score. A logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for presenteeism and absenteeism in relation to WFC categories.

Of the total participants, 16% reported absenteeism and 15% reported presenteeism. Compared to the individuals in the first quartile of WFC (Q1), individuals in the Q2, Q3 and Q4 categories had 1.17 (0.95-1.43), 1.65 (1.44-1.89) and 2.65 (2.17-3.24) higher odds of absenteeism. The corresponding figures for presenteeism were 1.04 (0.79-1.38), 1.31 (1.13-1.53) and 2.13 (1.85-2.45), respectively.

Work-family conflict was significantly associated with absenteeism and presenteeism among Japanese workers, which underscores the need to acknowledge and accommodate the balance between work and family responsibilities for workplace health promotion.