An evaluation of employee absenteeism as a coping mechanism among hospital nurses

It has been proposed that the break from work provided by an occasional absence may help employees cope with various types of stress and thereby lead to an improvement in their overall condition when they return. In this study, the mean levels of nurses' daily ratings of personal problems, tiredness, ill‐health, sleep disruption, stress and job dissatisfaction were compared statistically across a period encompassing one shift of attendance, an absence, and another shift of attendance. As expected, significant decreases in most variables were observed between the day of the absence and the subsequent shift. However, improvements were seldom found between the shifts immediately preceding and subsequent to the absence. The findings were interpreted as suggesting that occasional absences may help maintain physical and psychological states at manageable levels even if they do not result in immediately noticeable improvements on the part of returning employee.