Leaveism was first coined in 2013 by Dr Ian Hesketh, a researcher at University of Manchester – in the UK, to describe the phenomena of employees using flexitime, annual leave, rest days and other leave entitlement schemes to have time off when they are in fact too unwell to go to work. He later extended this to include occasions whereby employees took work home and/or on holiday that they could not complete in paid working hours. Hesketh’s research, which centred on well-being in the UK police service, sought to identify a gap in current thinking around absenteeism and presenteeism.
The aim of his studies was to highlight that the true extent of sickness absence may be masked by the practice of leaveism, and that there may be a hidden populace experiencing significant workload overload.
Definition: Leaveism is the practice of:
- employees using allocated time off such as annual leave entitlements, flexi hours banked, re-rostered rest days and so on, to take time off when they are in fact unwell
- employees using these leave entitlements to look after dependents, including children and/or elderly relatives
- employees taking work home that cannot be completed in normal working hours
- employees working while not at work, on leave or holiday to catch up
Extent and Factor – and why this is important to your business
In support, research carried out by Gerich (n=930) suggested that fear of job loss or downgrading and low perceived job gratification appeared to increase the likelihood of the first element of leaveism.[8]
In the CIPD Wellbeing Survey of 2021 [9] the overwhelming majority of respondents (84%) have observed ‘presenteeism’, both in the workplace (75%) and while working at home (77%), over the past 12 months. Further, seven in ten (70%) have observed some form of ‘leaveism’, such as working outside contracted hours or using holiday entitlement to work, over the past 12 months. Whilst it was reported that more organisations are taking steps to address both ‘presenteeism’ and ‘leaveism’ compared with last year, although over two-fifths of those experiencing these issues are not taking any action (43% for those experiencing presenteeism; 47% in the case of leaveism).
Risk Factors – as identified in research undertaken by the CIPD and Simply Health
Over 1,000 HR professionals representing 4.6m employees in the UK, reported that 87% considered that technology affected people’s ability to switch off out of work hours, taking phone calls and answering emails were cited by way of example. Further, 69% had observed leaveism over the last 12 months.
A report by Deloitte in Jan 2020, titled Mental health and employers – Refreshing the case for investment detailed a ‘deep dive’ into leaveism. It modelled numerous studies conducted over recent years and highlighted the criticality of the phenomena in understanding employees workplace responses to stress and ill-health.
The report concluded that younger employees were more susceptible to leaveism and, as such, required more support.
The report also made recommendations about what organisations could practically do to reduce the associated risks of leaveism behaviours. Steps such as setting clear boundaries between work and personal time, enabling policy-driven culture change and encouraging people to take their annual leave allocation to switch off and relax.[13]