[Absenteeism among workers with long and frequent illnesses]

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Industrial Hygiene
• Public Health

Background:

• Sickness absenteeism is a significant concern in the textile industry, impacting workforce productivity and healthcare costs.
• Identifying patterns of absenteeism among different employee groups is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze sickness absenteeism in textile workers, differentiating between long-term absentees and frequently ill employees.
• To compare absenteeism parameters (e.g., absence duration, frequency, lost time rate) between these groups and the general workforce.

Main Methods:

• Random sampling of 5197 textile industry workers.
• Analysis of sickness absenteeism using parameters like percentage of absence, lost time rate, mean duration, and average days/cases per employee.
• Comparative analysis between long-term absentees (over 30 days/year), frequent absentees (over 3 spells/year), and the general worker population.

Main Results:

• Long-term absentees (22.3% of workers) caused 75.6% of total sickness absenteeism.
• Frequent absentees (17.5% of workers) caused 43.5% of total sickness absenteeism.
• Lost time rate was 3x higher for long-term absentees and 2.5x higher for frequent absentees compared to the general group.

Conclusions:

• A small subset of textile workers (long-term or frequent absentees) drives a substantial portion of sickness absenteeism and lost work time.
• Interventions targeting these specific high-impact employee groups could significantly reduce overall absenteeism and improve workforce efficiency.