A diagnostic analysis of absenteeism: A case study in a Portuguese Cork Industry

Abstract

Absenteeism is defined as the absence of a worker from his or her workplace during a normal day’s work schedule and is seen as a problem which companies face every day. The absence of an employee can result in a significant drop in productivity and the company’s daily revenue can be negatively impacted by it, which when multiplied by the absence of multiple workers in different days can have a harmful impact on the company’s production. However, most managers neither understand nor have looked into the causes of their absence issue. This study took place at a company which produces cork stoppers, which deals with a problem of high absenteeism that costs around 1,200,000 € per year to the company. The main goal of this study is to identify the sectors which have the highest percentage of absenteeism, quantify its impact on related outcomes and diagnose its causes. The results show that, most absenteeism occurs in production areas and the causes are related to musculoskeletal problems. The consequences involve various costs to the society, some of them difficult to quantify. The methodology used in this study was the action research.