Sickness presence or presenteeism, defined as working while being ill, is an episodic behavior that depends on health events (e.g., having a cold or broken leg). Drawing on the effort-recovery model, I examine temporal aspects of strain and recovery linked to sickness presence episodes. I hypothesize that sickness presence episodes are associated with lower human energy levels during the same week and subsequently with changes in energy in the following weeks. I also propose that these within person processes accumulate, which would explain between-person differences in sickness presence and health found in previous studies. To test my assumptions, I conducted a week-level study with 385 employees over 9 consecutive workweeks. Participants reported sickness presence episodes during the week on Fridays and energetic activation on Fridays and Mondays. Discontinuous growth models based on 2181 self reports suggested that a single sickness presence episode is associated with lower levels of energetic activation on Friday in the week the episodes occurs and hardly any recovery in the following weeks. Accumulating sickness presence episodes were linked to lower energetic activation levels over the study period. Exploratory analysis showed an association between the first sickness presence episode and energetic activation on Monday the next week following the sickness presence episode. In sum, findings show the complexity of dynamic associations of sickness presence episodes and human energy. These dynamics should be considered in theory building on sickness presence and could also inform potential intervention strategies.
