Absenteeism is a complex set of behaviours masquerading as a unitary phenomenon. Absenteeism is a big problem in the motor manufacturing industry, especially, because of the number of processes that are labour intensive. Absenteeism is a multifaceted problem with many antecedents which make it challenging to resolve or contain. Financial impact is one of the consequences of absenteeism on a business, especially when one thinks that the primary objective of a firm in to make money. Absenteeism defeats these objectives through cost incurred for overtime to catch up production losses. Furthermore, in cases where replacement of personnel is necessary, this may include administrative costs related to the time human resource personnel spend looking for replacement employees or the time production management spends re-assigning employees. Absenteeism results in decreased productivity and may affect the quality of the product due to the increased workload and burden put on employees who are at work. Absenteeism is classified into scheduled and unscheduled absenteeism. Although some absenteeism is avoidable, it is important to understand that some absence is unavoidable. This is because people may fall ill, get injured or have unavoidable obligations which may lead to absenteeism. The purpose of this study was to identify the antecedents of absenteeism, with the assumption that once they are identified, they can be controlled, reduced or eliminated and the absenteeism rate thus reduced. The theoretical study focused on defining absenteeism, ascertaining the impact of absenteeism in the workplace, especially in an international organisation in the motor manufacturing industry and discussing the antecedents of absenteeism and strategies that can be used to manage these antecedents. The empirical study consisted of a survey, with a questionnaire as a data collecting tool. The process used to conduct the survey was to distribute the questionnaire among production employees in three operational units; namely Final Assembly, Paint Shop and Body Shop at a motor manufacturing company. Employees were approached, the purpose of the questionnaire explained and they were asked if they would be willing to complete the questionnaire. Employees who agreed to complete the questionnaire were briefed on the contents of the questionnaire and the completion process. The relationship between biographical variables and absenteeism was discussed. For the purpose of this study the following independent variables were discussed: age, marital status, gender, work area, length of service and number of dependents. The empirical study focused on the antecedents of absenteeism, and specifically job, organisational and personal factors, as well supervisors‟ attempts to manage absenteeism. The respondents indicated that they believed absenteeism was a problem in the study and that people stayed away for reasons other than genuine illness. It was recommended that absenteeism figures, such as the overall Gross Absence Rate (GAR) and Absence Frequency Rate for the organisation, and specific work areas and teams, are regularly communicated to employees and displayed prominently to emphasise the importance of attendance. Some suggestions were that: Supervisors should foster a genuinely respectful relationship between themselves and employees which will results in employees feeling obliged to be at work. The company should introduce a day care or crèche at work to allow female employees to bring their kids to work in the event they are unable to be looked after at home. Alcohol and drug abuse should not be seen as an external problem in the organisation but rather as something an organisation should get involved in to assist employee who might have a problem. The first step was to create a channel where employee can feel free to approach the company if they are in need of help. The study demonstrated that it was important to identify antecedents in order to address the real problems related to absenteeism.

Absence from school is a social phenomenon that not only affects the individual's personal quality of life but foremost can be seen as social problems related to the educational system as well as to other social costs (social exclusion, public health, criminality etc). The purpose of this essay is therefore to contribute to a better understanding of school absenteeism among Swedish upper secondary students’ and assess how the current strategies of addressing school absenteeism could be improved, especially facing recent circumstances related to eg.: Covid 19. The essay tries to achieve that by interviewing Swedish teachers, who are trying to tackle the problem on an everyday basis and whose voices seem to be absent from the research related to school absenteeism. The research part of the presented essay is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews and the project-related data will be analyzed through thematic analysis and inspirations drawn on Merton’s strain theory. The study's conclusion reports how the teachers' way of working is consistent with previous research through quick action after locating patterns in absenteeism and building better relationships between the school and the students’. The novelty of the presented study, which distinguishes it from the previous research, seems to be sealed in clearly formulated by respondents, something the teachers problematize through a so-called culture of absence. The discussion reveals deficient working methods through the prevailing secrecy and new working methods that would advocate faster investigations and better dialogue with social services and parents.

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The purpose of this study was to explain the effect of a lottery-based incentive program on employee absenteeism. Based on a review of the relevant literature, seven variables were examined: (1) past attendance behavior; (2) employee liking for the lottery program; (3) employee perceptions of the contingency of rewards; (4) employee perceptions of acceptable levels of absenteeism; (5) employee perceptions of the clarity of management's attendance goals; (6) employee perceptions of the reasonableness of management's attendance goals; and (7) employee expectations of success in improving attendance. / Master of Science

The study extended the Scott et al. (1985) research by examining the influence of public recognition on employees' attitudes and perceptions toward absenteeism. The main focus was on why the public recognition program was effective in reducing employee absenteeism. To better understand the effectiveness of recognition in reducing absenteeism, a model of the absenteeism/recognition relationship was developed. The model was based on the integration of the need, expectancy, reinforcement, and goal setting theories. It implies that the influence of recognition on attendance behavior is a function of an employee's (1) desire for recognition; (2) belief that attendance is related to recognition; (3) personal attendance goal setting which is a function of an employee's(a)perceived congruency between individual and management's attendance goals, (b) perceived reasonableness of management's attendance goals, and (c) perceived ability to attend in order to meet goals; and (4) recognition award. It was concluded that even though recognition programs have been shown to yield greater reductions in absenteeism than other approaches (e.g., lotteries, financial incentives, etc.), the reasons for its effectiveness are still not known. / Master of Science

The present study investigated absenteeism in a retail department store in an effort to determine which employee and job-related characteristics are related to absenteeism. Theoretical models and empirical research were used to develop a list of potential characteristics that could be related to absenteeism within the retail department store context. Data for this study were obtained from retail department store personnel records and from a questionnaire survey of its employees. Employee and job-related characteristics were matched with information about employee absenteeism to determine if significant relationships or differences between subsamples existed. Analysis of research findings revealed that several employee characteristics, including age, company and job tenure were positively correlated with absenteeism. Wage rates were found to be negatively correlated with absenteeism. Minority employees (n=8) had significantly lower absence rates than nonminorities and part-time employees’ absence rates were higher than full-time employees. In addition, employees' (particularly males) satisfaction with pay, promotional opportunities, supervision, workmates, and work were negatively correlated with frequency of absence. Work unit size showed positive correlation with absence rates and frequencies. An examination of absenteeism in the retail industry indicates that this industry and other non-manufacturing industries need further research. Such studies will help reduce labor costs, meaning lower prices and higher stockholder profits. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to examine factors used by arbitrators in deciding the outcome of disciplinary labor arbitration cases involving excessive employee absenteeism. The seven key tests of just cause identified by Carroll Daugherty in the 1966 Enterprise Wire Co. arbitration case were used as the basis for examining the cases in the study.

The study of absence from work has been of interest to organizational researchers for over 50 years. Most prior studies have considered absence behavior from the perspective of the individual employee only. The potential effect of a social unit in which an employee works has been given relatively little attention. This study examines the relationship between absence behavior and absence climate at the level of the supervisory group and plant, as well as the level of the individual. Absence climate was defined as the psychologically meaningful shared perceptions that workers hold concerning absence procedures and practices occurring within an organization. These procedures and practices were categorized into three dimensions, i.e. Organizational Pressure to Attend, Explanations for Absence and Consequences of Absence. In order to assess employee perceptions of absence a questionnaire was administered to 1139 apparel employees, who were members of 46 different work groups embedded within 5 different plants of the same organization. Absence behavior was measured by both absence rate and absence frequency from attendance records over a 12 month period. This study found (after controlling for gender, age and tenure) that Explanations for Absence was significantly related to absence behavior at the individual level of analysis and that Consequences of Absence was significantly but not practically related to absence behavior at the level of the supervisory group. Hence, only the individual level of analysis was found to be appropriate for the study of absence climate in this study. / Ph. D.

This study explored the relationship of Type A/B personality and leadership style to absenteeism. Absenteeism data were gathered for 243 male fire fighters and fire engineers. Each subject was administered the Jenkins Activity Scale to measure his Type A characteristics and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire to measure his perception of his supervisor's leadership style. The results, though non-significant, revealed that: a) Type A's had less absenteeism than type B's; b) Subjects who perceived their supervisors as being low on consideration had less absenteeism than those who perceived their supervisors as being high on this dimension; c) Type A's absenteeism was low and Type B's was high when working under a leader perceived as low on structure. Finally, a weak but significant three-way interaction effect revealed that the highest amount of absenteeism occurred when Type B' s worked under supervisors who were high in consideration and low in structure. The least amount of absenteeism occurred when Type A's worked under supervisors who were high in structure and low in consideration.