The Department of Health is experiencing repeated negative press releases with the respect to the quality of service delivery in the Eastern Cape. The public sector is an entity that provides a unique service. This is made evident by the services provided such as provision of free health services for primary health care as well as free health services to children under six, disabled and senior citizens. The Eastern Cape Department of Health has developed service standards adopted in 2007 by the Eastern Cape Department of Health. This study aims to determine the casual effect of absenteeism and their relationship to poor service delivery. According to Makhubu (2006) many vacancies in the Eastern Cape Department of Health exist which result in service delivery problems. In terms of the second principle in the Batho Pele Principles the norms and standards which are service standards serves as a baseline where the Department of Public Service and Administration (2007) issued directive that the vacancy rate of any government department should range between ten and fifteen percent Makhubu (2006) further refers to the doctors/patient ratio as one is to three hundred patients (1:300), which is unhealthy and abnormal as the doctor/patient ration in terms of the Health Professional is one is to thirty (1:30). Such cases pose an opportunity to those employees who are within the service to absent themselves from such unhealthy situations and this behavior later result in the exodus (professional drainage) of employee. Schultz, Nel, Gerber, Hassbroek, Van Dyk and Werner (2001:582) define absenteeism as withdrawal of levels of productivity and collegial interaction for a given time to escape a perceived undesirable working environment. This behavior is disruptive to continuous organizational efficiency. Absenteeism is found in two forms that are avoidable and unavoidable. In the unavoidable forms of absenteeism, the situation in unplanned and is governed by external factors, thus it is beyond one’s control and has to be managed differently. Control of absenteeism can exercise by the immediate manager through the human resource section regarding the duration and terms of absence pertaining salary and terms of services.

From Introduction: During the past three decades or more, the study of absenteeism in industry has been carried on in many different ways, by numerous investigators and in a wide range of industries. The purpose of such studies has varied; sometimes they have been stimulated by purely academic interest and have sought to investigate the relationship between absenteeism and various other measurable factors in the work situation such as age, race, sex, length of service and wage rates. Most studies, however, have been prompted by the urgent necessity to determine whether an absence problem existed within a specific factory, community or industry and to discover some effective means of dealing with it. Most studies have been empirical and pragmatic as has befitted their intentions. Inevitably, those who have conducted studies of the latter type have asked two questions (a) how do the absence rates emerging from this investigation compare with those from other studies and (b) are they 'normal' or 'abnormal'? In other words, does the data which has been gathered indicate the existence of an absence problem? The main purpose of this monograph is to demonstrate that the Gross Absence Rate is not an effective basis for the discovery of answers to either of these questions. It will seek, in other words, to demonstrate the truth of the following fundamental postulate: THE GROSS ABSENCE RATE IS NOT, IN ITSELF, A SUFFICIENT BASIS FOR THE COMPARISON OF THE ABSENCE BEHAVIOUR OF ONE GROUP OF WORKERS WITH THAT OF ANOTHER OR WITH A PRE-ESTABLISHED NORM, NOR IS IT AN ADEQUATE INDICATOR OF THE PRESENCE OR OTHERWISE OF AN ABSENCE PROBLEM AMONG ANY GIVEN GROUP OF WORKERS. Although this study will include some account of investigations into the relationship between absence rates and various socio-economic factors, it will do so primarily in order to seek support for the above postulate.

From the Introduction, p. 1-2. The main purposes of this study are to examine the methods by which one particular aspect of industrial behaviour, namely that of the worker's final withdrawal from the work situation, can be measured; to offer a more refined technique for the measurement of such withdrawals, and thirdly to attempt to relate this measurable phenomenon of withdrawal, commonly known as Labour Turnover, to the less easily measurable phenomenon of the integration of the individual worker into his working group. Labour Turnover - or the loss, over time, of employees from an employing organisation - is normally regarded as a province of study appropriate to the field of Industrial Psychology, and to its related applied field of Personnel Management. To a large extent, however, (as will be illustrated in Chapter II of this work) the results of such studies have proved inconclusive, and contradictory, and there is little evidence of progress towards a comprehensive understanding of the subject. This is undoubtedly due to the fragmentary nature of most studies in this field. These have generally been limited to the narrow confines of one particular aspect of the phenomenon, and consequently it has not been viewed against a sufficiently broad background.

The aim of this study was to explore views of the township high school principals regarding their approaches to teacher absenteeism management, with the objective of formulating an integrated strategic management model, which can be used to manage teacher absenteeism. To realise this goal, the following actions were undertaken: A literature study was conducted to uncover the absenteeism curbing strategies that will assist the school principals to deal with teacher absenteeism. A literature study was also conducted to determine the scope and the nature of teacher absenteeism as well as the legal framework that governs the management of absenteeism. A documental analysis of the policies, as provided by the Department of Education, was conducted to determine exactly what they entail regarding absenteeism management. The forces driving absenteeism and the variables involved in those forces, as well as elements making up those variables were identified and their influences were investigated. Hence, a theoretical framework consisting of these causal variables was developed to focus on the management of teacher absenteeism. As a result of this theoretical framework, an instrument in the form of a questionnaire was designed to determine the principals’ approach to teacher absenteeism as well as their consistency with the model. The survey was conducted in the township high schools in the Port Elizabeth District of Education. The findings from the empirical research indicated a strong agreement amongst the respondents, with the prevalence of unauthorised teacher absences, factors influencing absenteeism, teacher absenteeism management strategies as well as compliance with the teacher absenteeism management programme/plan.

In a globally competitive market place companies strive to become as efficient as possible. Absenteeism is a worldwide problem as it impacts on company efficiency and cost effectiveness. A large portion of absenteeism can be attributed to ill health absences. Companies have prioritized the need to find ways of managing and reducing absenteeism. In South Africa such processes have to occur within the confines of a constitutional right to fair labour practices and other prescriptive labour legislation. The issue is somewhat complicated by the fact that employees have a right to paid time off due to illness. It is thus clear that not all ill health absenteeism can be deemed problematic. A balancing act needs to occur between the operational needs of the employer and the rights of employees. Ill health absenteeism becomes problematic once a threshold is reached at which point it becomes intolerable for the employer, thus deemed excessive. Excessive ill health absenteeism is not a difficult concept to understand, however it is not specifically defined. A universal concept of when absence is deemed to have reached the threshold of excessiveness does not exist and varies from one employer to the next. Excessive ill health absence is a multi-facetted concept (as a result of the various types of ill health absence) and thus a universal process cannot be adopted to deal with all types of excessive ill health absenteeism. In an attempt to deal with the different types of ill health absenteeism it is pertinent to categorize the issues. The author suggests various ways of dealing with ill health absenteeism, depending on the facts of each case. A misconduct process should only be applicable in instances where it can be proved that sick leave is used inappropriately or the reason for absence is unknown. Although case law suggests the prevalence of dealing with ill health absence as misconduct, especially in the case of persistent short term absence, these cases rarely prove that abuse is taking place. Suspicions regarding abuse without proper evidence to support such claims will not satisfy the substantive fairness requirements. In the event that illness is of a medium to long term nature, an ill health incapacity process may be the most appropriate process to apply, as in such instances a clearly distinguishable illness exists, which makes accommodation less problematic. Such a process is less suited to persistent short term absence as this can be the result of many illnesses or injuries. In the case of persistent short term absence, the individual may be fully capable of performing their duties upon returning to work, however their frequent absence causes unreliability and inefficiency. It is clear in this instance that accommodation cannot take place due to the unpredictable nature of the absences. The concern with persistent short term absence is less with the illness or illnesses displayed and more with the absences itself. The author suggests that it may be appropriate to deal with such absences on the basis of incapacity due to poor work performance. This assertion is based on the fact that the concern is with frequent short term absence that causes the employee to be unreliable; however the illnesses are not of such a nature that it can warrant accommodation. If it is accepted that the employee is not malingering or if the malingering cannot be proved the employee has failed to meet a performance standard (attendance standard). It is suggested that as part of any incapacity investigation consideration should be given to whether the illness or injury can be deemed a disability. This is necessary as disabled individuals are afforded special protection and treatment. A dismissal of an incapacitated individual that is actually deemed “disabled” could be held to be automatically unfair and therefore it is pertinent that this is established at the outset.

Absenteeism places huge financial burdens on organisations and has a detrimental effect on productivity. Aware of the direct and indirect costs associated with absenteeism, management must determine what factors are responsible for the absenteeism and how these factors can be rectified in order to reduce the rate of employee absenteeism in the organisation. The study’s main aims were firstly to determine which key factors are responsible for employees being absent from work and secondly, how they can be rectified in order to reduce absenteeism. From the data that was obtained from the literature study stress, substance abuse, lack of job commitment and organisational factors account for some reasons given for absenteeism. Employee absenteeism may also be partly due to not enough emphasis being placed on career development, staff retention and salaries. Other causes of absenteeism include personal responsibilities, lack of motivation and low morale in the workplace. Only recently have managers become aware of the true impact which alcohol and substance abuse have on organisations. More productivity is lost through on-the-job absenteeism than due to any other single factor. On-the-job absenteeism is difficult to define and very difficult to identify. Such absenteeism includes the presence of employees at work while they are sick but incapable of performing to their true capabilities – this often occurring on Mondays or Fridays or the day after payday. With current staff retention programs, mergers and joint ventures, organisations now demand the same level of production with fewer employees. This has given rise to an increase in the level of stress employees experience, which led to stress becoming a key factor responsible for absenteeism. When managing absenteeism the implementation of a proper measurement system is essential. This will enable the company to determine the extent of their absenteeism. An evaluation and comparison of these statistics over a period of time will also shed light on the nature of the absenteeism. These will result in the proactive handling of a company’s absenteeism. This is also the first step away from the acceptance of absenteeism and subsequently the nurturing of an absence culture. Employers can take a number of steps to reduce absenteeism, such as giving responsibility for absence management to senior or human resource managers rather than line managers, introducing return to work interviews, introducing discipline procedures and others. The great majority of absence management solutions completely overlook organisational factors, instead focusing on individual, claim processing and health-related factors in the quest to reduce lost productive days. Absence management programs should focus on organisational (not individual) drivers of absence to encourage a present and committed workforce. Absenteeism will never be eradicated, but through careful management organisations can reduce the absentee rate and the effect it has on the organization.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute for Governance and Policy Studies

The research is a quantitative descriptive survey. The sample is a stratified random sampling of the workforce (n=4,010) of the four hospitals in Gauteng that fall under the jurisdiction of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg Metropolitan Councils. The research examines the extent of the impact of age, gender, occupation, salary level, tenure and race on workplace absenteeism. The data were collected in three phases involving auditing of hard copy files, structured interviews and information technology system. The findings of the research reflect high workplace absenteeism in females by 83.2%, age group between 45 to 49 years by 22.35%, salary range of 2 to 3 by 35.3%, African race group by 96.3%, tenure of 11 to 20 years by 44.3%, nurses by 20.8% and administration support by 35.4%. The research found that the mature employee in age and of higher year of tenure presented comparatively with lower rate of absenteeism. / Public Administration / M.A. (Public Administration)

M. Tech. Business Administration / The objective of this study was to identify factors that are responsible for employee absenteeism in Vodacom SA, which is the largest mobile cell phone company in South Africa. In the literature, it has been extensively reported that absenteeism is a major cause of loss of income and revenues among mobile cell phone operators in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to identify the root causes of absenteeism in the cellular phone industry in South Africa. Data was collected from a random sample of 120 employees of Vodacom SA working in Midrand.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract