Absenteeism in Industry: a Bio-Psychosocial Profile of the Chronic Absentee.

This study examined the differences in stress levels, personality types, and clinical symptomatology between a group of 49 employees who were chronically absent from their workplace and a group of 39 employees with good attendance records. An added criterion group of 18 sporadically absent workers enrolled in employee assistance programs was added for the sake of further comparison. For purposes of cross validation, two large companies belonging to a multinational automobile corporation were utilized. Company A had one of the highest absenteeism rates, and Company B had one of the lowest rates within the corporation. The companies were chosen for the clear criteria used to define types of absenteeism and for the guidelines which differentiated unwarranted chronic absenteeism. It was hypothesized that the chronic absentee group would differ from the normals in that the former would be characterized by avoidant and passive aggressive personality types; higher clinical symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatoform illness, drug, and alcohol abuse; and that they would manifest more elevated stress scores than the normals. A convenience sample was tested using the Holmes-Rahe Stress Checklist and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory. The resulting data supported all the hypotheses. Additional findings were that the chronic absentees were further characterized by a borderline personality disorder; that the normals were typified by a compulsive personality type, and that the sporadically absent employees seeking help were dependent personality types. The sporadically absent group resembled the chronic group in their clinical symptoms and stress scores but at lower levels. The normals ranked lowest in stressors and overall psychopathology. The chronically absent employees were further differentiated from the total work force by being 28 to 35 years of age with 8 to 11 years of seniority. Females were more proportionately absent than men. The highest stress scores and most psychopathology were found in the company with the lowest absence rate. The importance of the study was in discovering the degree of psychopathology present in the absentee workers tested, indicating a need for counseling interventions and consultation for policy making and supervisory training.PhDSchool counselingUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160264/1/8502763.pd