A Systematic Approach to Diagnosing Employee Absenteeism
Abstract
In any given year, it has been estimated that over 300 million work days are lost in Britain due to employee absenteeism. This figure amounts to about 13.5 days lost per employee. Daily absenteeism among blue‐collar workers in many industries runs as high as 17 per cent of the work force with rates often much higher on Mondays and Fridays. These estimates include absenteeism due to illness, as well as other reasons. High rates of absenteeism have been cited as contributing to industrial slumps in some areas of Britain. Productivity losses, loss of good will, extra labour costs to replace the absent employee, overtime costs, and sick pay are all costs associated with absenteeism. Clearly, employee absenteeism is a major area of concern for personnel managers.
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Sick leave has been linked to motivation, stress and coping, the balance between work demands and capacity, adaptation, or a combination of these.
“Sick leave has been linked to motivation [26,27,29,42,50,51], to stress and coping [25,52], to the balance between work demands and capacity [28,31], to adaptation [30], or to a combination of these [32].”
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- Authors
- Rhodes, S., & Steers, R.
- Affiliations
- Syracuse University (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- ORCID
- Steers, Richard
- Venue
- Employee Relations
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 1981-02-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 17-22
- ISSN
- 0142-5455 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2046646746
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Employee Relations (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Employee Performance and Management
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Safety Management
- Keywords
- absenteeism, productivity loss, sick leave, blue-collar workers, deindustrialization, personnel management, labor costs
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