How can companies curb digital presenteeism

Hybrid work may have removed the pressure to be physically visible at a desk, but for many employees, that pressure has simply moved online. 

New research commissioned by COS, involving more than 1,000 Australian office workers, found that 75% of employees feel pressure to respond quickly to work messages to appear productive. 

COS Co-CEO Belinda Lyone said the shift to digital represents a new form of presenteeism. 

“For decades, presenteeism was often attributed to being the first person in, the last person out, or always at your desk,” she said. 

“Now, a fast reply, a green status dot or simply appearing constantly available can become the new signal of engagement. The problem is, none of those things necessarily tell you whether someone is doing good work.” 

For HR leaders, the findings raise a broader question: are organisations measuring performance by meaningful outcomes, or by how visible and responsive employees appear? 

For Lyone, leaders can address the issue by focusing on four areas: 

• Define what good performance looks like: Set clear expectations around outcomes, priorities and quality rather than relying on visibility or response times. 

• Set clear communication expectations: Establish reasonable response times, define what is genuinely urgent and clarify when employees are expected to be available. 

• Model the culture you want to create: Ensure leaders’ own communication habits do not create an unofficial expectation of constant availability. 

• Create a safe environment to raise concerns: Give employees a way to flag communication practices, systems or workloads that create unnecessary pressure. 

Defining a good performance 

The first step is to make performance expectations explicit. 

Employees should understand the outcomes, priorities and quality measures that determine strong performance. This reduces the need for employees to demonstrate their commitment through constant digital visibility. 

The approach is particularly relevant as employers continue to refine hybrid working models. A 2024 study has found that organisations are increasingly looking beyond traditional productivity measures as they manage hybrid teams, with performance management becoming a key consideration. 

The COS research also points to a link between clearer performance measures and lower digital pressure. 

Among employees who do not feel pressure to respond quickly, 34% say response times are not used to measure performance, while a quarter say their workplace focuses more on outcomes than responsiveness. 

For HR teams, this means reviewing whether performance frameworks reward meaningful contribution – or inadvertently reward employees who respond fastest. 

Setting clear communication expectations 

Clear communication boundaries can help employees distinguish between what requires immediate action and what can wait. 

Leaders should establish reasonable response times for different channels, identify what constitutes a genuine emergency and make expectations around availability clear. 

Without those guidelines, employees may assume every message requires an immediate response. 

The issue becomes even more significant outside normal working hours.  

Sixty-two percent of Australian employees say they sometimes or frequently respond to work messages outside normal hours because they believe it will reflect positively on their performance. 

Australia's right to disconnect has made these boundaries an increasingly important consideration for employers.  

Some of the practical implications of the legislation include employees' ability to refuse out-of-hours contact unless that refusal is unreasonable.  

Organisations should, therefore, ensure their communication policies and day-to-day practices are aligned, rather than expecting employees to remain available simply because technology makes it possible. 

Modelling the culture 

Workplace culture is shaped by what leaders do as much as what policies say. 

An executive who routinely responds to messages immediately can unintentionally establish rapid responses as the standard for everyone else.  

Similarly, sending non-urgent messages late at night can signal that employees should remain connected beyond their normal working hours. 

“If the fastest responders are seen as the most committed, people quickly learn that availability carries value,” Lyone said. “That is when responsiveness starts being confused with performance.” 

Leaders should consider when they communicate, how quickly they expect responses and whether their own behaviour reinforces an always-on culture. 

This is especially important in hybrid environments, where employees may have fewer opportunities to clarify expectations informally. 

There is importance of leadership in building high-performing hybrid teams, with trust and support playing a central role in how employees perform. 

Creating a safe environment 

Employees also need to feel comfortable speaking up when workplace systems or communication practices create unnecessary pressure. 

HR teams should regularly ask employees where messaging practices, meetings, workflows or technology are creating friction. This can help identify issues before they become larger problems involving burnout, disengagement or turnover. 

Psychological safety is particularly important in hybrid workplaces, where warning signs can be harder for managers to spot.  

Hybrid working can make early indicators of workplace problems less visible and emphasised the role of leaders in proactively addressing psychosocial risks.  

There is also a gap between how psychologically safe senior leaders and employees feel, reinforcing the need for leaders to actively create environments where people can raise concerns. 

For Lyone, employees should feel safe to focus on their work, ask questions and be honest when something is not working. “When employees know what is expected of them, there is less need to rely on visibility as proof of contribution,” she said. 

Moving beyond the green dot 

The COS research suggests digital presenteeism is not simply an employee behaviour problem. It can be a reflection of the expectations created by managers, performance systems and workplace culture. 

More than half (52%) of employees believe hybrid work has increased expectations that workers remain digitally available.  

Among those feeling pressure to respond quickly, 48% say the pace of their replies signals performance, while 37% believe a fast response shows they are engaged and contributing. 

For HR leaders, the answer is not to eliminate digital communication or accountability. Instead, organisations need to make the distinction between being available and being effective. 

“Flexibility is not simply allowing someone to work from home. You need the leadership, communication and systems around it to make that flexibility work,” Lyone said. 

“If someone feels they need to reply quickly to protect their reputation, or cannot step away from a messaging platform without worrying how it looks, that is a cultural signal leaders need to pay attention to.” 

The green status indicator may show that someone is online. It cannot show whether they are doing their best work.