Sabilillah/Adobestock (KI generiert)How is working from home related to presenteeism – that is, working despite illness? A study by Lena Zöhrer and Heiko Breitsohl (Department of Management) provides nuanced answers based on representative data from Germany in a recent publication in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Working from home has become an established part of everyday working life for many employees since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there has so far been only limited research into how different ways of working from home are associated with presenteeism – that is, working despite illness. Lena Zöhrer and Heiko Breitsohl, who work in the Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management research group within the Department of Management at the University of Klagenfurt, have recently turned their attention to this topic.
In their article ‘Ill at Home, Still at Work? Working from Home Practices and Sickness Presenteeism’, the Klagenfurt-based research team, together with Nils Backhaus and Sophie-Charlotte Meyer from the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, examines how different working-from-home practices are associated with both the decision to work despite illness and the number of days employees work despite illness.
The analyses are based on representative data from employees in Germany collected in 2019 (around 5,400 participants) and 2021 (around 10,000 participants). The findings reveal a nuanced picture. “Informal or supplemental work from home is associated both with the decision to work despite illness and with a higher number of days worked despite illness,” explains Heiko Breitsohl. “Formal working-from-home agreements, by contrast, are not associated with the decision to work while ill, but they are linked to fewer days worked despite illness,” says Lena Zöhrer. The authors also note that previous experience of working from home, as well as preferences regarding the separation of work and private life, could provide useful starting points for creating health-promoting working-from-home arrangements.
According to the authors, the study also yields several practical implications. Lena Zöhrer and Heiko Breitsohl explain: “The findings suggest that clarity and formal working-from-home agreements can be beneficial. It may therefore be advisable for employers to minimise the need for informal or supplemental work from home and to set out clear expectations in working-from-home agreements for situations in which employees are ill.”
Zöhrer, L., Breitsohl, H., Backhaus, N. & Meyer, S.-C. (2026). Ill at Home, Still at Work? Working from Home Practices and Sickness Presenteeism. Social Science & Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119542.
Der Beitrag Ill at home, but still working? Study explores working from home and working despite illness erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.