You can easily measure absenteeism in your project team. Just count the number of days employees miss. Bear down on them enough, and they’ll come in to work… like the walking dead. That’s presenteeism. You are present, but not capable to work. That’s the topic of a CIO Insight article at the link below.
Presenteeism is when your project team is half slaughtered by the stress and worry of everything around them – threats of layoff, political, economic, worldwide – yet they drag into work anyway. Hey, it’s better to eke out a few hours of work than sit around on your duff, right?
I don’t suppose there’s any good answer to this. It is what it is. We’re not living in a 1950’s ‘Leave It To Beaver’ sitcom anymore. This decade is hardcore depressing. Layoffs are happening all around us, businesses are failing, others are hanging on for an elusive economic uptick, but few are prospering.
My advice: just recognize this in your project team. Be sympathetic. Don’t bear down for more production. Just try to be a pleasant manager if possible. We’ll come out of it eventually. What else can we do?