Sickness absenteeism and associated factors among auto plant employees in Tehran, Iran

Sickness absenteeism is a major problem among organizations and health care units; causing loss of work-hours and reduced productivity in the workplace. Previous studies have shown that several factors are associated with sickness absenteeism including social conditions, workplace and organizational conditions and employees’ characteristics. Other studies have shown that psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety, and musculoskeletal disorders are the main causes of medical absenteeism. The present study is designed to investigate sickness absenteeism in the employees of an auto plant in order to evaluate the occupational health of employees based on the basic indicators of absenteeism.

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was organized to evaluate the intensity of sickness absenteeism and associated factors among auto plant employees in Tehran, Iran in 2016. Stratified sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the study participants. Data was collected from the questionnaire, medical records, and employees’ attendance system. Multivariable analyses were employed to see the effect of explanatory variables on the dependent variable.
Findings: The frequency of medical absenteeism among employees was 11.3%. 26.8% of medical absenteeism was more than 15 days. smoking and workplace group were significantly associated with sickness absenteeism.

Our study found that smoking and working in the trunk 1 department of the auto plant were significant risk factors for sickness absence in employees. In general, absenteeism is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon and should be evaluated in order to recognize the affective factors and control them.