The Effects of Job Insecurity, Job Demand and Health Issues towards Presenteeism in a Malaysian Government Linked Company

Abstract

Presenteeism is an underreported phenomenon. However, people are slowly beginning to shed more light on it as workplaces become more demanding of their employees. While an employee may think he is doing well by still showing up for work despite being injured, stressed or ill, the opposite is usually true. This paper examined the main influencing factors that affect presenteeism in a local government linked company. The factors examined were job insecurity, job demands and health issues. Quantitative data was collected using the non-probability self-administered questionnaire that consist of questions with 6-points Likert scales distributed to samples of 120 employees in a division within the organisation. The data collected was analysed using Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis to determine relationship between different variables. Based on the findings, job insecurity has the strongest and most significant relationship to presenteeism, whilst job demands and health issues were weak and not significant. This study also found that job insecurity as the most influencing factor that affects presenteeism in this local government linked company. The findings have made significant contribution towards developing initiatives focusing on job insecurity which is unique to this organisation to manage future escalation of presenteeism.