ABSENTEEISM

In 1993, absenteeism among nursing personnel of Dr. Georges-L. Dumont regional hospital in New Brunswick was 10.3 days per employee. The Human Resources Department of the hospital authorized the study described here in order to identify the roots of the problem. The author hypothesized that worker dissatisfaction was one of the major causes of absenteeism. The results indicate that dissatisfaction is related to workload, hospital policies and procedures and employee benefits. Satisfaction was noted for certain variables including autonomy in the workplace, relationships with colleagues, and leadership style on the unit. Dissatisfied nurses who would not choose nursing as a profession the second time around have less seniority and work night shifts. Conversely, satisfied nurses are those who would choose nursing again. They have more seniority and do not work night shifts. Almost all respondents believe that dissatisfaction in the workplace affects quality of care, encourages absenteeism in order to flee the workplace and negatively affects motivation. The author suggests further studies to verify how dissatisfaction in the workplace influences motivation and quality of nursing care.