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[Hrdiv_net] costs of absenteeism

  • 1.  [Hrdiv_net] costs of absenteeism

    Posted 07-15-2011 11:13
    Hi, Mike:

    Consider taking a look at "Investing in People," (2nd ed.) by Wayne Cascio and me.  You may find helpful the costing formulas and the logic frameworks for considering absence, substance abuse and their costs.

    Best wishes on your research!

    Cheers,

    JB

    John Boudreau
    Professor of Management and Organization and
    Research Director, Center for Effective Organizations
    Marshall School of Business
    University of Southern California
    DCC 200
    3415 South Figueroa
    Los Angeles, CA  90089-0871
    http://ceo.usc.edu/
    Center main phone:  213-740-9814
    Center Fax:  213-740-4354
    John.Boudreau@usc.edu
    At 07:41 AM 7/15/2011, frone@ria.buffalo.edu wrote:

    Hello,

    Can anyone suggest a chapter/review/book that discusses issues to take into account when looking at the cost of absenteeism?

    For some context, I'm reviewing studies of the putative productivity outcomes of employee substance use, one being absenteeism (including tardiness or leaving early).  Clearly, absenteeism can cost employers.  However, it seems that some substance use studies may overestimate the potential relation involving and cost due to substance use in terms of absenteeism.  There are a number of reasons for this, but two seem particularly insidious.  The first is predictor-criterion confounding.  For example, the DV represents responses to a question like "How often are you absent from work due to your drinking?" and the predictor represents responses to a question like "How often do you drink?"  Both the DV and IV are measures of the frequency of drinking, thereby inflating the putative relation between alcohol use and absenteeism and presumed employer costs due to alcohol use that are attributable to absenteeism. This also occurs for other outcomes, such as injuries or job performance.  Second, little attention is paid to heterogeneity across companies in terms of compensation for time off, and I am no expert here.  Yet it seems there are situations where unscheduled absences simply will have little cost, even if they are due to alcohol use.  For example, there might be a situation where employees are provided with a fixed (e.g., 10) number of days off per year.  They are then paid for any unused days at the end of the year, which presumably might motivate nonuse.  But, in any case, absenteeism in this situation is not going to increase cost to the employer because payment will be made regardless of whether the days are taken off or not, and any days absent above this quota will be time off without pay.  Moreover, even if the time off is unscheduled, with the exception of large spells, the work sometimes can wait or a coworker will be expected to pick up the slack.

    Any references that discussion such general issues would be greatly appreciated.

    Mike Frone

     ****************************************************************
    Michael R. Frone, Ph.D.
    Senior Research Scientist
    Research Institute on Addictions
    State University of New York at Buffalo
    1021 Main Street
    Buffalo, New York 14203

    Office:    716-887-2519
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    E-mail:     frone@ria.buffalo.edu
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