The association between Korean workers' presenteeism and psychosocial factors within workplaces.
BACKGROUND
Presenteeism, a concept that has recently undergone active study, is the act of attending work while sick. This study investigates the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces.


METHODS
This study analyzed 29246 wage earners from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS, 2011) data using the logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces.


RESULTS
Among the 29246 wage earners, 6347 (21.7 %) showed presenteeism. Those who experienced age discrimination at work (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.77: 95 % CI 1.56-2.00), educational background discrimination (aOR 1.35: 95 % CI 1.22-1.51), regional discrimination (aOR 1.55: 95 % CI 1.31-1.83), sexual discrimination (aOR 1.65: 95 % CI 1.41-1.94), employment type discrimination (aOR 2.13: 95 % CI 1.89-2.40), physical violence (aOR 1.92: 95 % CI 1.45-2.55), sexual harassment (aOR 2.90: 95 % CI 2.01-4.19), job insecurity (aOR 1.36: 95 % CI 1.18-1.56), work-life imbalance (aOR 1.38: 95 % CI 1.29-1.47), low job satisfaction (aOR 2.04: 95 % CI 1.91-2.17), no colleague support (aOR 1.11: 95 % CI 1.02-1.21), job stress (aOR 1.89: 95 % CI 1.76-2.02), emotional labor (aOR 1.50: 95 % CI 1.41-1.60), high work intensity (aOR 1.31: 95 % CI 1.23-1.38), and 3 groups of job strain that are passive group (aOR 1.09: 95 % CI 1.00-1.18), active group (aOR 1.39: 95 % CI 1.28-1.51), and high strain group (aOR 1.35: 95 % CI 1.24-1.46) showed an increased risk of presenteeism compared to their respective counterparts (p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The study results confirmed the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces. Considering that presenteeism negatively affects productivity and the mental and physical health of individuals, managing various psychosocial factors within workplaces is proposed to reduce presenteeism.
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, South Korea.
Yun-Sik
YS
Cho
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
Jae Bum
JB
Park
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
Kyung-Jong
KJ
Lee
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Kyoung-Bok
KB
Min
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, South Korea.
Chul-In
CI
Baek
Discrimination; Harassment; Job stress; Korean Working Conditions Survey; Presenteeism; Workplace psychosocial factors