International Journal of Workplace Health Management

Presenteeism on the desk: The relationships with work responsibilities, workto-family conflict and emotional exhaustion among Italian schoolteachers
Chiara Panari Silvia Simbula

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Chiara Panari Silvia Simbula , (2016),"Presenteeism on the desk", International Journal of
Workplace Health Management, Vol. 9 Iss 1 pp. 84 - 95
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IJWHM
9,1

84
Received 29 November 2013
Revised 1 June 2014
21 November 2014
Accepted 25 February 2015

Presenteeism on the desk

The relationships with work responsibilities,
work-to-family conflict and emotional
exhaustion among Italian schoolteachers
Chiara Panari
Department of Economics, University of Parma, Parma, Italy, and

Silvia Simbula
Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and consequences of the
phenomenon of presenteeism in the educational sector. Particularly, the authors tested the relationship
between excessive work responsibilities, presenteeism, work-to-family conflict and workers emotional
exhaustion.
Design/methodology/approach A self-report questionnaire was administered to 264 teachers in
secondary schools.
Findings A subsequent mediation of presenteeism and work-to-family conflict between work
responsibilities and emotional exhaustion was found.
Originality/value The findings of this study will provide help todays organisations for better
understanding and managing the new phenomenon of presenteeism in order to promote workers
well-being and performance.
Keywords Workplace health, Exhaustion, Presenteeism, Teachers well-being, Work-to-family conflict
Paper type Research paper

International Journal of Workplace

Health Management
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2016
pp. 84-95
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1753-8351
DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-11-2013-0047

Introduction
In the past, literature has focused mainly on absenteeism, exploring the costs of this
workers behaviour in the organisational context (Harrison and Martocchio, 1998;
Johns, 1997, 2010), without taking into account the loss of productivity caused by
attending to work despite feeling unhealthy (Hemp, 2004). This phenomenon takes the
name of presenteeism and represents workers behaviour of going to work despite
complaints and ill-health (Aronsson et al., 2000), with the consequence of being unable
to work at normal capacity (Turpin et al., 2004).
Recently, researchers have begun to examine this attitude, starting with some
empirical evidence showing that being unhealthy but present at work causes more
loss of productivity for the organisation than missing work because of absenteeism
(Collins et al., 2005).
In a survey on 2,000 European workers, the percentage of employees reporting they
have engaged in presenteeism at least once during the last year is estimated to range
from 50 to 70 per cent (Eurofound European Foundation for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions, 2010), and the European Agency for Safety and Health
at Work (EU-OSHA) (2011) has reported that presenteeism costs twice as much for
organisations compared to absenteeism. Costs are also high in the USA; according to
Hemp (2004), presenteeism costs 150 billion dollars per year for US companies.
To our knowledge, this phenomenon has not yet been examined in a systematic way
in the Italian context. It should be noted that the situation of Italian context is quite

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different from the other European countries. In fact, in the latest years the Italian school
system have been affected by continuous reforms that have had an influence on
teachers role, with the consequence of over commitment and excessive responsibilities
without an adequate presence of human resources, career development options, salary
and job security (Drago, 2006). Hence, to our knowledge, this study represents the first
Italian research about antecedents and consequences of presenteeism in the educational
sector which is one of the sectors most affected by the tendency for being unhealthy but
present at work. Therefore, it seems very important to identify both the causes and
consequences in order to prevent its costs for the school organisations.
What can drive workers to come to work when ill?
There are some factors related both to work content and work experiences that can
favour this phenomenon ( Johns, 2011). These two factors are defined, respectively, as
aspects associated with the nature of the job and job design, and aspects about the
organisational context.
Concerning the work content, the highest presenteeism levels have been found in the
care and education sectors because this work involves helping, teaching and providing
service to others and workers are more disposed to work when sick in order to meet
some of the fundamental needs of other people (Aronsson and Gustafsson, 2005). Other
studies underline that care and responsibility demands at work influence the rate of
presenteeism (Widera et al., 2010). In these jobs, task significance and associated high
responsibilities have been shown to be potent antecedents of presenteeism because it is
likely that workers feel irreplaceable at work, both in a subjective and in an objective
way, and are afraid of neglecting social expectancies, mainly when these expectancies
concern helping and supporting other people (Grant, 2008). This perception of
impossibility of replacement is one of the most common reasons for the appearance of
presenteeism (Caverley et al., 2007).
Concerning work experiences, an organisational policy that does not have strict
back-to-work practices, even if not formal and prescribed, cannot ensure adequate
coverage of personnel and enhances the perception of personal responsibility that
encourages presenteeism (Wrate, 1999). In this sense, if the organisational culture is
ambiguous about how workers should behave in case of illness and management is
unaware about the potential effects of presenteeism, it is more likely that there can be a
psychosocial climate where staying at home is perceived as illegitimate (Dew et al.,
2005; Demerouti et al., 2009).
Some organisations also have cultures based on work ethics (like commitment to
work) that promote few absences and disapprove of workers sick absences (Hansen
and Andersen, 2008). For example, primary schoolteachers, whose everyday tasks are
to provide welfare services like teaching or instructing, may be under the influence of
the no-absence type of culture and have a presenteeism rate of 55 per cent, while
engineers and computer scientists, for whom the relationship with users is less pivotal,
have a presenteeism rate of 27 per cent (Aronsson et al., 2000).
The relationship between presenteeism and work-to-family conflict
An aspect that is positively associated to presenteeism is the work-to-family conflict:
the work demands and responsibilities that provoke such conflict also compel
attendance, whether a worker is in good health or not ( Johns, 2011). A high level of
work responsibilities that overcome the real work duties of workers can influence their

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tendency to go to work when ill in order to avoid neglecting work-related social

expectancies and because of perceived impossibility of being replaced. The depletion of
energy and the impossibility of recovering, due to presenteeism at work, do not allow
workers to satisfy either work demands or family requests in a spiral that leads to
exhaustion. In fact, anxiety regarding work responsibilities, resulting from the burden
of having to take too many duties, often compel attendance at work but, if people are
unhealthy and are not able to face them, work worries can interfere with the possibility
of meeting family needs. Some researchers have found a relationship between
presenteeism and work-to-family conflict (Cicei, 2012; Cooper and Williams, 1994;
Jansen et al., 2006). However, studies about the association between such conflict and
presenteeism are very few ( Johns, 2011).
The consequences of presenteeism and work-to-family conflict for workers health
Presenteeism has not yet made a significant entrance into the health literature while its
counterpart absenteeism has received more attention (Widera et al., 2010). However,
recent research has shown that presenteeism appears to be more related to well-being
than absenteeism (Caverley et al., 2007).
Some studies have revealed that presenteeism leads to exhaustion and
depersonalisation (Sonnentag, 2005) and can be a predictor of future absenteeism
(Bergstrom et al., 2009). Also Demerouti et al. (2009), in a study with staff nurses, underline
that presenteeism is a risk-taking organisational behaviour associated with substantial
longitudinal relationships with job demands and burnout. These authors demonstrated
that presenteeism is linked to exhaustion through a loss spiral (Hobfoll and Freedy, 1993).
In fact, workers who have to face high job demands are inclined to attend work when they
feel sick in order to avoid performance decrements. However, if the opportunity to recovery
from fatigue in the non-working period is not sufficient, the psychophysiological system
remains in a sub-optimal state that obliges workers to make additional efforts during the
next working period, leading to chronic fatigue. Thus, presenteeism, because of its potential
for reducing recovery, is likely to lead in the long term to higher levels of exhaustion.
In this process in which workers fail to recover, inter-role conflict can lead to stress
because additional resources are lost in the process of juggling work demands and
family responsibilities (Grandey and Cropanzano, 1999). In this sense, the work-tofamily conflict may place additional pressure on workers resources because managing
multiple responsibilities becomes demanding and complicated, far from a frictionless fit
(Elbaz-Lubisch et al., 2002), and increases the likelihood of emotional exhaustion,
ill-health and absence (Grandey and Copranzano, 1999). Studies of inter-domain conflict
indicate that it is often difficult to successfully perform multiple roles and conflicting
time demands among roles are associated with stressful outcomes (Adams et al., 1996).
In fact, work-to-family conflict seems to be significantly related to indicators of
psychological distress (Marks, 1998), self-reports of diminished physical health (Frone
et al., 1996), depressed mood and heavy alcohol consumption (Frone et al., 1997). In the
educational sector, research has demonstrated that many teachers are incapable of
separating their professional and family roles effectively (Elbaz-Lubisch et al., 2002).
Results from several studies create an image of a teacher who juggles responsibility to
maintain a home and raise children in addition to working as teachers, when either
work or family roles are salient and central to the persons self-concept (Cinamon and
Rich, 2005). Such conflict can increase mental fatigue, which, in turn, has an influence
on the psycho-physical health and work satisfaction of teachers who are unable to
adequately meet their family and work demands (Guglielmi et al., 2012).

Aims and hypotheses

Starting from these premises, our research aimed to examine the phenomenon of
presenteeism in a sample of Italian teachers in secondary school, in order to analyse the
relationship between work demands, presenteeism and exhaustion in a professional
sector characterised by high task significance.
Therefore, the current study aims to contribute to the existing literature on
presenteeism through the investigation of the impact of work responsibilities (i.e. a
typical job demand) on emotional exhaustion by adding presenteeism and work-tofamily conflict as mediators operating in serial. Based on our theoretical analysis, we
predict that:

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H1. Work responsibilities will be positively related to emotional exhaustion through

the subsequent mediation of first presenteeism, and then of work-to-family
conflict.
Methodology
Participants
The study was carried out with 264 teachers at three secondary schools in the North of
Italy.
We began the recruitment process by contacting the principals of the schools. After
the schools principals had expressed their willingness to participate, 455 Italian
teachers received a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The questionnaire was
accompanied by a letter that was signed by the coordinator of the university
research unit, which explained the general aim of the study and stressed that the
answers would be anonymous. Ultimately, 264 Italian teachers participated (response
rate of 58 per cent). The teachers were asked to complete the questionnaire within
ten days of its delivery, and to place it in a special box at their school to guarantee
complete anonymity.
Most participants were women (71.6 per cent) and were married (69.7 per cent). The
mean age was 47.42 years old (SD 8.65). The respondents had an elevated length of
service (M 19.73, SD 10.66). About 73.8 per cent of the sample had permanent jobs
and 26.2 per cent had some type of fixed-term contract.
Measures
The current study was part of a broader research project on teachers well-being,
comprising validated scales from international and Italian literature. For this study we
focused on the following scales.
Work responsibilities were assessed with a three-item scale (Guglielmi et al., 2011)
measuring the frequency with which teachers have to take responsibilities and duties
(e.g. in terms of legal liability, students attainment and well-being accountability) that
they should not have to face (e.g. I have to assume responsibilities that I should not
have to face). The items were scored on a five-point frequency rating scale ranging
from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). The scales reliability (Cronbachs ) was 0.73.
Work-to-family conflict was measured with a three-item scale (Guglielmi et al., 2011)
that referred to the imbalance between work and family life (e.g. Anxieties and
working worries interfere with the possibility to satisfy the needs of my family). The
respondents were asked to rate the frequency on a five-point scale (from 1 never to
5 often). The scales reliability (Cronbachs ) was 0.79.

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Presenteeism was measured with one item from Aronsson and Gustafsson (2005).
For the Italian version, a standard translation-back translation procedure was used as
recommended by Brislin et al. (1973). Particularly, participants were asked to answer
how many times, in the last year, they went to work ill even if they should have taken
one day off for sickness because of being unhealthy. The item was scored on a
four-point frequency rating scale ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (more than five times),
with 2 (one time) and 3 (two to five times) as intermediate positions of the scale. This
self-report measure is the most commonly used in the study of presenteeism ( Johns,
2010). It has also been normal to measure presenteeism over a 12-month period (see
Aronsson and Gustafsson, 2005; Gustafsson and Marklund, 2011; Deery et al., 2014).
For reasons of comparability, we used this accepted time frame. Moreover, it should be
noted that Demerouti et al. (2009) reported test-retest reliabilities of 0.58 or greater for
six- and 12-month intervals, indicating that the answers on presenteeism were
consistent and related over time.
Emotional exhaustion was measured by the Italian validation of the Maslach
Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (Sirigatti and Stefanile, 1993). The scale consists
of nine items referring to the depletion of physical and psychological energy because of
work fatigue (e.g. I feel emotionally drained from my work). The items were scored on
a seven-point frequency rating scale ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (everyday). The
reliability for this scale, as measured by Cronbachs , was 0.89.
Results
Descriptive statistics
The means, standard deviations, internal consistencies and correlations were computed
for all study variables (Table I). All significant relationships between the variables were
in the expected direction.
Strategy of analysis
To test our hypothesis, we used an analytical approach outlined by Preacher and Hayes
(2004). This mediation approach tests the indirect effect between the predictor and the
criterion variables through the mediator using a bootstrapping procedure that
addresses some weaknesses associated with the Sobel test (Preacher and Hayes, 2004).
In fact, two of the main assumptions necessary for the Sobel test are that the
distribution of ab i.e. the product of the XM path (a) and the MY path (b) is
normal, and that sample size is large. However, the sampling distribution of ab may not
be normal; in addition, as sample size becomes smaller, the Sobel test becomes less
conservative (Preacher and Hayes, 2004). On the contrary, bootstrapping does not rely
on the assumption of normality and it can also be used with small samples. Moreover,
the bootstrapping method, as implemented in the PROCESS macro for SPSS, with
multiple mediators operating in serial (Model 6; Hayes, 2013) was used to test the
Variable

Table I.
Means, standard
deviations and
correlations of the
study variables

1. Work responsibilities
2. Presenteeism
3. Work-to-family conflict
4. Emotional exhaustion
Notes: n 264. **p o0.01

SD

2.85
2.78
2.41
20.16

0.96
1.00
1.01
11.34

0.18**
0.36**
0.49**

0.30**
0.37**

0.66**

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model. To derive the direct and indirect effects, we estimated all the path coefficients in
the model simultaneously. Moreover, the bootstrapping method has been used to
compute formal statistical tests of the specific indirect effects.
This method generates an estimate of the indirect effect including a 95 per cent
confidence interval. When zero is not in the 95 per cent confidence interval, one can
conclude that the indirect effect is significantly different from zero at p o 0.05 and, thus,
that the effect of the independent variable (i.e. work responsibilities) on the dependent
variable (i.e. emotional exhaustion) is mediated by the proposed mediating variables (i.
e. presenteeism and work-to-family conflict). We included gender, age, job tenure,
number of children and type of contract as control variables in the mediational model.

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89

Testing the model

Our hypothesis stated that presenteeism and work-to-family conflict sequentially
mediates the relationship between work responsibilities and emotional exhaustion. In
Table II, we provide unstandardised estimates of all the path coefficients, as well as
indirect effects along with 95 per cent bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals
for our paths estimates.
As predicted and consistent with prior research, there was a significant total effect
from work responsibilities to emotional exhaustion (estimate 5.51, p o 0.001).
We next sought to determine whether presenteeism and work-to-family conflict would
mediate this relationship, both uniquely and in-sequence. As predicted, there was
significant mediation overall (estimate 2.52, 95 per cent CI [1.62, 3.52]). We next
decomposed the mediated effect into three components. First, presenteeism uniquely
mediated the relationship between work responsibilities and emotional exhaustion
(independent of work-to-family conflict), estimate 0.27, 95 per cent CI [0.04, 0.62].
As work responsibilities increased, presenteeism also increased; presenteeism, in turn,
Path coefficients
To
To emotional
exhaustion presenteeism
(P)
(EE)

Indirect effects
To work-tofamily
conflict
(WFC)

Estimate

Bias-corrected
bootstrap 95%
confidence interval

Work
responsibilities (WR) 2.987 (0.57)
0.165 (0.07)
0.359 (0.06)
Presenteeism (P)
1.619 (0.53)
0.231 (0.06)
Work-to-family
conflict (WFC)
5.673 (0.57)
Gender (1 female)
3.329 (1.15)
0.305 (0.14)
0.363 (0.13)
Type of contract
(1 permanent job)
1.170 (1.49) 0.051 (0.19)
0.136 (0.17)
No. of children
0.655 (0.53)
0.079 (0.07) 0.092 (0.06)
Age
0.161 (0.12) 0.013 (0.02)
0.008 (0.01)
Job tenure
0.047 (0.10)
0.015 (0.01) 0.018 (0.01)
Total
2.522 (0.49)
1.621; 3.516
WRPEE
0.267 (0.15)
0.036; 0.617
WRWFCEE
2.039 (0.45)
1.228; 2.989
Table II.
WRPWFCEE
0.216 (0.10)
0.038; 0.451
Path coefficients and
Notes: Bootstrap confidence intervals were constructed using 5,000 samples. Total effect
indirect effects for
(WREE) 5.509 (0.66). Standard error in parentheses
mediation models

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90

fed uniquely into emotional exhaustion. Second, work-to-family conflict uniquely

mediated the relationship between work responsibilities and emotional exhaustion
(independent of presenteeism), estimate 2.04, 95 per cent CI [1.23, 2.99].
Finally, we examined whether presenteeism and work-to-family conflict would
operate in-sequence to mediate the relationship between work responsibilities and
emotional exhaustion. Work responsibilities was associated with an increase on
presenteeism, b 0.17, p o 0.05, which was associated to work-to-family conflict,
b 0.23, p o 0.001, which impacted on emotional exhaustion, b 5.67, p o 0.001
(see Figure 1). Since zero was not included in the 95 per cent confidence interval, the
three-path mediation was significant, estimate 0.22, 95 per cent CI [0.04, 0.45].
Therefore, consistent with our hypothesis, the results show that presenteeism and
work-to-family conflict sequentially mediated the work responsibilities-emotional
exhaustion relationship (Table II). Hence H1 was supported.
Discussion
The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenon of presenteeism by
analysing its antecedents and consequences in a sample of Italian schoolteachers, as
this is one of the professions most affected by the tendency of being present at work
despite ill-health. In fact, although the costs of presenteeism have started to be known
(EU-OSHA, 2011), to date the studies analysing presenteeism and its correlates are still
rare, particularly in the Italian context. Another critical aspect is that, although the
definition of presenteeism employed in the present study (i.e. attending work while ill)
is the most commonly used in the occupational health literature, there are many
different definitions which differ to a greater or lesser extent from each other
occasioning potential confusion ( Johns, 2010). For example, presenteeism is variously
portrayed as good, somewhat obsessive, at odds with ones health status, and often less
than fully productive (for a review, see Johns, 2010). Moreover, to the best of our
knowledge, previous studies have analysed only a simple mediation between job
demands, presenteeism and burnout (i.e. Demerouti et al., 2009) and have not
considered the role of other mediating variables in the relationship between job
demands and burnout.
The results of this study supported our hypotheses and contributed to the literature
on presenteeism, confirming that there was a subsequent mediation of presenteeism
and work-to-family conflict between work responsibilities and emotional exhaustion.
Therefore, increasing work responsibilities (a job demand, typical of the new school
system in Italy) enhances the propensity for teachers to work on days that they are
sick, because they feel they cannot delegate their tasks, and are afraid of neglecting
0.23 (0.06)
Presenteeism

Work-Family
conflict

0.17 (0.07)

Figure 1.
Mediational analysis
of the links between
work responsibilities
and emotional
exhaustion

5.67 (0.57)
0.36 (0.06)

Work
Responsibilities

1.62 (0.53)

2.99 (0.57)

Emotional
Exhaustion

Note: For clarity reasons paths coefficients from covariates were not inserted.
All paths are significant at least at the level of p < 0.05

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social expectancies (i.e. from students, colleagues and school principals); this tendency,
in turn, prompts their perception of conflict between work and family spheres, which
consequently results in higher levels of emotional exhaustion. In a cross-sectional study
on Canadian workers employed in a variety of work positions, Johns (2011) considered
work-to-family conflict as an antecedent of presenteeism and found a positive
relationship between these two constructs arguing that job demands that provoke such
conflict also compel attendance, even in the case of ill-health. However, and our results
seem to support this hypothesis, the contrary is also possible: that is, the tendency of
presenteeism may be expected to be related to increasing work-to-family conflict. This
is primarily because presenteeism restricts opportunities for recuperation (Aronsson
and Gustafsson, 2005). It is common knowledge that adequate recovery from job
pressures is crucial to avoid negative health effects. Typical examples of need for
recovery experiences are that employees find it difficult to relax at the end of a working
day, to start other activities, and to concentrate during their free time after work
(i.e. Van Veldhoven and Meijman, 1994; Winwood et al., 2006). In this sense, it is
possible that work worries can interfere with the possibility of meeting family needs
and increase the perception of work-to-family conflict. Cinamon and Rich (2005) have
reported that, for teachers, to fulfil family and professional roles concurrently is
perceived as a very stressful aspect of their life, with the consequence of chronic lack of
energy necessary to care for ones own children and to be a good teacher. Future
studies should examine the link between the work and family spheres in depth.
Particularly, it will be important to consider the two directions of conflict, namely, the
work-to-family conflict and the family-to-work conflict, as previous studies have begun
to emphasise the practical value of managing both forms with respect to presenteeism
( Johns, 2011).
Although presenteeism may be seen as a sign of high normative commitment, our
results demonstrated that this is detrimental to teachers well-being, because it
encompasses both the private sphere of workers, as well as their perception of
emotional exhaustion. In this sense, it is similar to the nature of workaholism, defined
as the tendency to work excessively hard and being obsessed with work, which
manifests itself in working compulsively (Schaufeli et al., 2008). Like workaholics,
people who show presenteeism seem pushed to their work (Van Beek et al., 2011), as
they are apparently driven by external pressures (i.e. meet others approval and
expectations). In parallel, the level of workaholism is a significant predictor of work-tofamily conflict (Andreassen, 2013; Bonebright et al., 2000) because workaholics are
unable to benefit from relaxation and involvement in non-work activities with
consequences for psychological distress (Brady et al., 2008).
Finally, among control variables, only gender exhibited a significant relationship
with presenteeism; to be specific, in line with Aronssons findings (Aronsson et al., 2000;
Aronsson and Gustafsson, 2005), women tended to show slightly higher presenteeism
than men. Following this trend, female teachers tended to also perceive more emotional
exhaustion and work-to-family conflict.
Conclusion
In an applicative point of view, our results could be incorporated into workplace
policies that add the concept of presenteeism into their measures of employee
well-being or productivity and introduce some strategies in order to prevent it. First,
as Hemp (2004) suggested, it would be important to educate organisations and
employees about the costs and perils of presenteeism within a specific occupational

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sector, like an educational one and within helping professions. The awareness within
the organisation is the first step to adopt other measures concerning, for example, the
identification of the organisational characteristics related to presenteeism, and
resources to manage illness.
There are some limitations that should be acknowledged. First, data from this study
derived entirely from self-report questionnaires increasing the chances of common
method variance effects. Second, another limit concerns the cross-sectional design of
the study, which prevents us from establishing the direction of the hypothesised causal
relations or reversed causal hypothesis. The serial multiple mediator model assumes a
causal chain linking the mediators, with a specified direction of causal flow. However, a
reciprocal relationship is also possible and future longitudinal research could be
conducted to examine this possibility. Our findings show that the work environment
may play an important role in stimulating the tendency for presenteeism. However,
previous research ( Johns, 2010) emphasised that personal characteristics (e.g. work
attitudes, personality) tend to favour its occurrence. Therefore, we believe that future
studies should contemplate these variables, as well as the role of the work context.
Other limitations include not controlling for the effects of general health, which was
strongly associated with presenteeism ( Johns, 2011), and measuring presenteeism with
a single item. Particularly, our measure provides no information as to when or why
individuals go to work while sick. Although the single-item measure may be considered
a serious weakness of the present research, our measure corresponds to that of
previous studies (Aronsson et al., 2000; Demerouti et al., 2009), which also found a high
test-retest reliability. However, the development of a multi-item scale, as well as more
objective measures of presenteeism, is strongly encouraged.
In conclusion, although this research represents a first attempt at studying a
phenomenon that has not yet been examined deeply in the Italian context, there is a need
for more studies in order to better understand both personal and workplace antecedents
and consequences of presenteeism and improve an instrument for its evaluation.
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About the authors
Chiara Panari, PhD, is a Researcher at the University of Parma, where she teaches work and
organisational psychology. Her research interests and scientific papers concern the quality of
working life, psychosocial risk factors and work-related stress. Chiara Panari is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: chiara.panari@unipr.it
Silvia Simbula, PhD, is a Researcher at the University of Milano-Bicocca where she teaches
organisational communication. She has published papers on job stress, burnout, engagement and
quality of working life.

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