Inkrimping van het personeelbestand in produktiebedrijven en afwezigheid wegens ziekte; een longitudinale sekundaire analyse

Samenvatting

Most studies focusing on the relationship between the general economic situation, particularly where unemployment is concerned, & on sickness absenteeism have yielded inconsistent & unreliable data, owing to methodological problems which had not been solved or to questionable research design. Unlike those studies performed at a macroanalysis level, the longitudinal investigation reported here concentrated on the organization level & it became possible to conduct a comparative analysis under more-or-less similar conditions. The results indicate that firms witnessing a continuous decrease in employee population in a 4-year period, also showed a decrease in sickness absenteeism when compared with firms where the employee situation had remained unchanged. 3 possible explanations for this phenomenon are: (1) the reluctance of persons to acknowledge being ill, (2) the selection of groups of employees with relatively high frequencies of illness, & (3) changes in the structure of the organization. 4 Tables. Modified HA.