absenteeism

Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation without good reason. Generally, absenteeism refers to unplanned absences. Absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer. It is seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or quasi-economic terms. More recent scholarship seeks to understand absenteeism as an indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work.

== Workplace == High absenteeism in the workplace may be indicative of low employee morale, but can also be caused by workplace hazards or sick building syndrome. Measurements such as the Bradford factor, a measurement tool to analyze absenteeism which believes short and unplanned absences affect the work group more than long term absences, do not distinguish between absence for genuine illness reasons and absence for non-illness related reasons. In 2016, the UK CIPD found that the average employee had 7.5 absent days per year, which had a median annual cost of £595 per employee. Measurement methods are not exact and all encompassing, resulting in skewed results depending on variables being observed. As a result of the cost of absenteeism, employees can feel obliged to work while ill, and transmit communicable diseases to their co-workers. This leads to even greater absenteeism and reduced productivity among other workers.