Socio-demographic and clinical predictors of absenteeism - A cross-sectional study of urban industrial employees

CONTEXT: Public sector undertakings are facing a threat of privatization due to unsatisfactory performance putting pressure on management and in turn to employees. There is an increasing trend of absenteeism observed amongst employees citing job stress. AIM: To find an association between job stress and absenteeism in relation to socio-demographic and clinical profile. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in an urban aeronautical industry with 68 employees who mentioned stress at workplace during evaluation. Job stress was assessed using Professional Life Stress Scale (David Fontana). Those who scored more than 30 (n = 43) were taken up for the study after an informed consent. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to find socio-demographic and clinical profile. Employees who reported taking leave in last six months just to avoid work or workplace constitute the “absenteeism” group. The absenteeism group was compared to non-absenteeism group using Fisher exact/Chi-square test or independent t-test depending on type of variables. RESULTS: Out of 43 subjects, 18 had absenteeism while 25 did not have absenteeism. Comparing the two groups, interstate migration, having more than one previous job, commuting time more than an hour, co-morbid anxiety/depression, and alcohol abuse were significantly associated with absenteeism (P < 0.05). Absentees complained more about fatigue and relationship problem with colleagues than non-absentees (P < 0.05). Factors like age, sex, marital status, education, gross pay, job tenure, past or family history of psychiatry illnesses had no significant association with absenteeism (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In absenteeism research, one of the widely accepted models is Steer and Rhode's “Process model of absenteeism.” The model postulates job stress as one of the barriers for attendance. Thus, knowing the factors for absenteeism would help in preventing absenteeism.