Absenteeism in Slovenian railways – comparison between different work groups

Abstract

Introduction: In the working environment there are several (even negative) factors which can affect employees and the consequence is absenteeism. The most often causes of absenteeism in Slovenian Railways Group are musculoskeletal problems, nonworking infections and injuries, and mental and behavioral disturbances. Methods: We observed the percent of absenteeism between four work groups, of which two groups were regular work schedule and two groups were shift-work schedule. The absenteeism was observed between years 2007 and 2015. Regular work schedule employees were office workers and railway infrastructure maintenance workers. Shift-work schedule employees were train drivers and railway wagon inspectors. Results: Using 2-way ANOVA we found the greatest percent of absenteeism in railway infrastructure maintenance workers (6,38 % ± 0,95 %), followed by train drivers (4,49 % ± 1,39 %) office workers (4,23 % ± 0,58 %) and railway wagon inspectors (3,28 % ± 0,62 %). Conclusion: Because we did not have available data on the causes of absenteeism, we can about them only assume on the basis of knowledge of the working environment. In the next survey, we will ask employees about the causes of absenteeism and on the basis of the results we will produce guidelines and recommendations for preventive action.