The relationship between absenteeism and employer-sponsored child care

Abstract

Given the high loss of revenue due to absenteeism, exploring different ways of managing absenteeism in South African companies, such as family-friendly practices, has become important. Establishing onsite employer-sponsored child-care facilities is an example of such practices. 4The purpose of this article is, firstly, to report on exploratory research that was done to examine the relationship between absenteeism and on-site employer-sponsored child care. The following dimensions of absenteeism were examined over a period of one year: absence frequency, absence severity, attitudinal absence and medical absence. The results of two companies, one with a facility and one without a facility, were then compared in order to establish the relationship between absenteeism and an on-site facility. Secondly, this article also reports on the relationship between demographic variables and absenteeism. The results indicate a significant negative relationship between onsite employer-sponsored child care and absenteeism. Regarding the influence of demographical variables, significant differences were found with respect to absenteeism-based marital status and age, while no significant difference was found with respect to absenteeism based on gender and race. This article makes a specific contribution to studies on the use of on-site employer-sponsored child-care facilities for managing absenteeism, specifically in the South African context, and also sheds new light on the influence of demographical variables on absenteeism.