Managing sickness absence. Leadership and sickness absence behaviour in hospital care

PhD ceremony: Ms. J.A.H. Schreuder, 14.30 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Managing sickness absence. Leadership and sickness absence behaviour in hospital care

Promotor(s): prof. J.W. Groothoff, prof. J.J.L. van der Klink

Faculty: Medical Sciences

Short-term sickness absence is associated with behavioural attitudes, results in understaffing, and interferes with work processes. Furthermore, employees with frequent short-term sickness absences are at increased risk of future long-term absence. Zero-absentees seldom call in sick, though they face the same difficulties in work, are managed by the same supervisors and are subject to the same organizational policies and practices. Although companies are struggling to manage sickness absence, these zero-absentees are usually unnoticed.

The focus of this thesis is on short-term sickness absence and zero-absenteeism and their management. It combines quantitative and qualitative, testing and verifying, and exploratory research methods. The situational leadership theory of Hersey & Blanchard serves as an important theoretical framework to investigate effective management of sickness absence behaviour.

The research was conducted in Nij Smellinghe Hospital, (Drachten, the Netherlands). Here, the management of sickness absence is an important element of the organizational policies and practices. As a result, the hospital was reported to have the lowest sickness absence rates in the hospital care sector in 2010 by Vernet, the market leader in benchmarking healthcare in the Netherlands. The findings provide knowledge and tools to improve sickness absence management. Managing sickness absence requires a targeted and tailor-made approach per employee, in which not only the employee, the supervisor, and the OP have important roles, but also the team in which an employee works. The results of this thesis warrant more attention to short-term sickness absence, zero-absence, and PsyCap of individual employees and teams.