{"id":60415,"date":"2026-09-01T22:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/?p=60415"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:38:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:38:30","slug":"digital-presenteeism-cos-research-reveals-the-pressure-behind-the-green-dot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/news\/digital-presenteeism-cos-research-reveals-the-pressure-behind-the-green-dot","title":{"rendered":"Digital Presenteeism: COS Research Reveals the Pressure Behind the Green Dot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A green status dot might show that someone is online, but does it really show that they are doing their best work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New research commissioned by COS suggests many Australian employees feel they need to remain visible and responsive online to demonstrate that they are productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Based on a survey of more than 1,000 Australian office workers, the research found that 75% feel pressure to respond quickly to work messages to appear productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is digital presenteeism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Digital presenteeism is the pressure employees feel to prove they are working by appearing constantly available online, replying quickly to messages or remaining active on workplace communication platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The COS research found this pressure often continues beyond the working day. Sixty-two per cent of employees sometimes or frequently respond to work messages outside normal hours because they believe it will reflect positively on their performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than half also believe hybrid work has increased expectations that employees remain digitally available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These findings raise an important question for Australian workplaces: are employees being recognised for the quality of their contribution or for how quickly and visibly they respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moving beyond online visibility<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The COS research has been featured in Human Resources Director Australia, where COS Co-CEO Belinda Lyone discusses how fast replies, active status indicators and constant availability can become confused with genuine performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The article explores how organisations can address digital presenteeism by defining what strong performance looks like, setting clearer communication expectations and ensuring leadership behaviours do not unintentionally create an always-on culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As hybrid work continues to evolve, organisations have an opportunity to look beyond digital visibility and create workplace cultures where meaningful outcomes matter more than simply appearing online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hcamag.com\/au\/specialisation\/employee-engagement\/how-can-companies-curb-digital-presenteeism\/586929\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full article in Human Resources Director Australia.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research commissioned by COS suggests many Australian employees feel they need to remain visible and responsive online to demonstrate that they are productive.<\/p>\n<p>Based on a survey of more than 1,000 Australian office workers, the research found that 75% feel pressure to respond quickly to work messages to appear productive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":60416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[2405],"class_list":["post-60415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60417,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60415\/revisions\/60417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}