Sickness Presenteeism among Employees Having Workplace Conflicts-Results from Pooled Analyses in Latvia

Svetlana Lakiša; Linda Matisāne; Inese Gobiņa; Hans Orru; Ivars Vanadziņš

doi:10.3390/ijerph191710525

Sickness Presenteeism among Employees Having Workplace Conflicts-Results from Pooled Analyses in Latvia

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 24;19(17):10525. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710525.

Authors

Svetlana Lakiša¹, Linda Matisāne¹, Inese Gobiņa², Hans Orru³, Ivars Vanadziņš^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Rīga, Latvia.
² Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Rīga Stradiņš University, Kronvalda Boulevard 9, LV-1010 Rīga, Latvia.
³ Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Rīga, Latvia.

Abstract

The study's objective was to investigate the associations between workplace conflicts and self-reported sickness presenteeism defined as going to work while being ill. Cross-sectional survey data pooled from four national surveys in years 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2018 with a study sample of 6368 employees (mean age 42.9 years and 52.9% females) were used. Respondents were randomly drawn from different regions and industries; therefore, the sample is representative of the working population of Latvia. The computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) method was used to collect data at respondents' places of residence. The associations between conflicts in the workplace and presenteeism were analyzed by using binomial logistic regression and calculated as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusted (aOR) for gender, age, education, and survey year. On average, 11% of respondents reported sickness presenteeism during the last year. The odds of presenteeism significantly increased for all types of workplace conflicts, but most for conflicts with managers (OR = 2.84). The odds of presenteeism doubled for those reporting conflicts with other employees (OR = 2.19) and conflicts with customers (OR = 1.85). The odds of sickness presenteeism were significantly higher if the workplace conflicts occurred often (seven times for conflicts between managers and employees, and four times for conflicts with customers) and with other employees. Presenteeism frequency increased more than three times if respondents had more than two types of conflict at work. The results of this study show that having any type of conflict in the workplace significantly increases the frequency of sickness presenteeism, especially when conflicts are frequent or an employee has more types of conflicts in the workplace. The study results justify the need to implement targeted and effective workplace conflict management measures at the organizational level to decrease sickness presenteeism.

Keywords: conflicts at work; psychosocial risk factors; sickness presenteeism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Latvia / epidemiology
Male
Presenteeism*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Workplace*

Grants and funding

This publication has been developed with financing from the European Social Fund and the Latvian state budget within project no. 8.2.2.0/20/I/004 “Support for involving doctoral students in scientific research and studies” at Rīga Stradiņš University.