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International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research logoLink to International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
. 2009 Feb 4;18(1):37–47. doi: 10.1002/mpr.275

Employee absenteeism measures reflecting current work practices may be instrumental in a re‐evaluation of the relationship between psychological distress/mental health and absenteeism

Michael F Hilton 1,2,✉, Judith Sheridan 2, Catherine M Cleary 2, Harvey A Whiteford 1,2,3
PMCID: PMC6878435  PMID: 19194855

Abstract

Absenteeism rates are the cornerstone metrics guiding corporate policy for health care investment in employees. However, traditional absenteeism measures do not reflect the contemporary workplace milieu. It is accepted practice that employees work evenings or weekends to makeup time. Using a hours‐based absenteeism measure, that accounts for time made‐up as well as time lost, this paper evaluates the impact of psychological distress on employee absenteeism.

Psychological distress and absenteeism data were collected from 54,264 full‐time employees. Consistent with traditional approaches, employees indicated how many days they were absent. Hours based absenteeism was formulated from the ratio of how many hours the employees worked and how many hours were they expected to work in the past seven‐days.

Concordant with previous concinnous evidence, traditional absenteeism computation indicated that elevated psychological distress is associated with increasing absenteeism. Using the hours‐based method psychological distress did not significantly influence absenteeism.

Traditional calculations of absenteeism do not reflect the current work practices of the majority of employees. Employees with psychological distress may take time off work but it appears that they make up for lost time possibly to stay up to speed with task driven occupations and avoid performance review. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: mental health, absenteeism, productivity, methods

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