Presenteeism is defined as the practice of being present at work, but unable to fully perform tasks due to physical and/or mental health problems. Research on presenteeism highlights its consequences for people’s health and quality of life, as well as the loss of productivity of organizations. Social support at work by supervisors and colleagues, can contribute to the minimisation of the wear and health risks of these professionals.

Thus, the purpose of this research is to i) explore the prevalence of presenteeism in higher education professionals, ii) identify the main health problems behind it, and iii) identify personal, professional and social support factors associated with the phenomenon. Additionally, it is intended to evaluate the role of social support at work in relation to presenteeism and quality of life.

The target population will be made up of higher education technicians and it will be developed at the University of Porto, a Portuguese public university located in Porto. The study will be conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered via email. We will apply the validated versions for the Portuguese population, the Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6), the subscales, ‘social support from supervisors’ and ‘social support from colleagues’ of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, COPSOQ (to measure social support at work) and the Quality of Life Index (EUROSHIS-QOL-8). A sociodemographic questionnaire (with personal and work-related variables) will also be collected.

We expect with this study to contribute to the identification of reduced activity professional patterns associated with presenteeism and that affect professionals quality of life, as well as alerting institutions to the relevance of promoting social support at work.