Anteceding factors predicting absenteeism and presenteeism in urban area in Malaysia

Abstract

Background Organization productivity is strongly linked to employees’ socioeconomic characteristics and health which is marked by absenteeism and presenteeism. This study aims to identify anteceding factors predicting employees’ absenteeism and presenteeism by income, physical and mental health. Methods An online health survey was conducted between May to July 2017 among employees from 47 private companies located in urban Malaysia. A total of 5235 respondents completed the 20-min online employee health survey on a voluntary basis. Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact tests were used to determine association between income with demographic and categorical factors of absenteeism and presenteeism. Multivariate linear regression was used to identify factors predicting absenteeism and presenteeism. Results More than one third of respondents’ monthly income were less than RM4,000 (35.4%), 29.6% between RM4,000-RM7,999 and 35.0% earned RM8,000 and above. The mean age was 33.8 years (sd ± 8.8) and 49.1% were married. A majority were degree holders (74.4%) and 43.6% were very concerned about their financial status. Mean years of working was 6.2 years (sd ± 6.9) with 68.9% satisfied with their job. More than half reported good general physical health (54.5%) ( p = 0.065) and mental health (53.5%) ( p = 0.019). The mean hours of sleep were 6.4 h (sd ± 1.1) with 63.2% reporting being unwell due to stress for the past 12 months. Mean work time missed due to ill-health (absenteeism) was 3.1% (sd ± 9.1), 2.8% (sd ± 9.1) and 1.8% (sd ± 6.5) among employees whose monthly income was less than RM4,000, RM4,000-RM7,999 and over RM8,000 respectively ( p = 0.0066). Mean impairment while working due to ill-health (presenteeism) was 28.2% (sd ± 25.3), 24.9% (sd ± 25.5) and 20.3% (sd ± 22.9) among employees whose monthly income was less than RM4,000, RM4,000-RM7,999 and over RM8,000 respectively ( p < 0.0001). Factors that predict both absenteeism and presenteeism were income, general physical health, sleep length and being unwell due to stress. Conclusions A combination of socioeconomic, physical and mental health factors predicted absenteeism and presenteeism with different strengths. Having insufficient income may lead to second jobs or working more hours which may affect their sleep, subjecting them to stressful condition and poor physical health. These findings demand holistic interventions from organizations and the government.

Unplanned Absenteeism: The Role of Workplace and Non-Workplace Stressors

“…We postulate that this could be due to the differential in root causes of stress that indirectly influence absenteeism. For instance, those who experience financial constraints which have been shown to be associated with stress [ 19 ] may or may not be absent from work; those who absent may be due to the involvement in part-time job that jeopardize their attendance at work, while those who present may be due to the fear in losing the current job and income. However, this postulation needs to be confirmed in future study using a longitudinal study involving multiple interrelated occupational and non-occupational variables.…”

“…A study among public service employees in Malaysia also found that stress and personal life problems accounted for up to 69% of the MC [ 18 ]. The economic burden often forced them to take up additional jobs and spent more hours working, causing inadequate rest, thus leading to stress [ 19 ].…”

Predictors of Psychological Distress and Mental Health Resource Utilization among Employees in Malaysia

“…Ethics approval was obtained from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Research Ethics Committee (NN-2019-152). A total of 117 corporate companies in Malaysia participated, with the study methodology described in detail elsewhere [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Psychological distress is often associated with poorer physical health and higher healthcare utilization, with negative consequences to both employees and employers such as decreased work engagement, increased sickness leave, as well as higher absenteeism and presenteeism [ 6 , 7 ]. Recognizing the need to reduce psychological distress, many organizations are implementing mental health services for their employees to facilitate better health and have made a plethora of mental health support services and resources available in response [ 8 ].…”

Why so stressed? a comparative study on stressors and stress between hospital and non-hospital nurses

“…Among the predictive factors of stress include job satisfaction [11], high workloads [12], shift work [13], sleep quality [13], and nurse practice environment [14]. Stress could be harmful to the nurse's health such as burnout [15] and healthcare services such as absenteeism or presenteeism [16].…”