Presenteeism
I spent a year and a half in my postdoc and increasingly realised we were at a dead end. We wanted to build a molecular machine capable of performing a synthesis on its own. Even small test systems required 15 to 20 synthesis steps. As soon as we had enough material for testing, the disappointment was immense: it simply didn’t work.
Fortunately, my supervisor wasn't a micromanager.
I felt something fundamental had to change. Fortunately, my supervisor wasn’t a micromanager, so I decided: I’m going home now to think, read, and think some more until an idea comes to me. Until then, I won’t touch my lab bench. And sure enough, after three days, I came across two publications in journals I wouldn’t normally have read. I realised that our machine was simply running in the wrong direction! This had produced an intermediate step in the reaction sequence that was too unstable. The solution was incredibly simple: we simply had to design the machine so that it could run in reverse.
My supervisor trusted his team and therefore didn’t force them to hang their proverbial jackets over the back of their chairs every day. That was the crucial factor in the project’s success. At the institute, I wouldn’t have found the peace and quiet to bury myself in sometimes far-fetched articles for days on end.
For employers, I can only conclude from this episode: If possible, trust your employees and avoid establishing a culture of presenteeism in the first place. Simply ask yourself why you demand attendance from your employees. If there’s a concrete reason the work can only function that way, then so be it. If you demand attendance because that’s just how it’s always been done, then conduct an experiment to see if it works without measuring buttock-to-chair contact time. You then have to measure work results instead of attendance. That’s more difficult, but also more beneficial for everyone involved.
Employees can ask themselves whether they are imposing the pressure to be present on themselves or whether it is truly expected. Especially in academic research, where it takes a long time to demonstrate one’s value through measurable success, there is often a high degree of self-imposed pressure to demonstrate one’s commitment through long working hours.
When choosing employers, you can use their attendance culture or its absence as a selection criterion – fortunately, word gets around. If you already have a position, you can negotiate greater flexibility in your annual review by demonstrating that it’s a win-win when you can work freely and creatively.
This article was first published in Nachrichten aus der Chemie (issue 02-2026). See here the German original.
If you´re interested in leading your team so they are intrinsically motivated instead of showing presenteeism, you could check our workshop, Leadership skills: How to row the boat.