Absenteeism. Nursing service's albatross

Absenteeism negatively impacts sick leave benefits, staff hours, overtime pay, salary losses, productivity, employee moral, continuity, and quality of patient care. This paper describes findings from a large study that was conducted for the purpose of identifying variables contributing to absenteeism. Variables identified by the study included child care problems, conflict between the parent and employee roles, staffing and scheduling difficulties, and attitudes toward sick leave. While valuable information was identified by the study, the findings raised some serious questions about productivity, staff attitudes, and work ethics.