Absenteeism and Turnover in an Argentine Factory

This paper endeavors to move one step nearer to a general theory of absenteeism and labor turnover by uniting and extending two previous approaches. Over a period of years studies have established that absenteeism and labor turnover are associated with a variety of personal and social characteristics of workers. Recently J. M. M. Hill and E. L. Trist have suggested that the integration of the employee into the work force be conceptualized as a process in which all workers are either or stayers, with some of the stayers seeking reasons to withdraw temporarily (become absentees). Our research relates the two approaches by examining the hypothesis that if the absentees are intermediate between stayers and leavers in the process of integration, they will be intermediate on a number of factors classified as incentives, to attendance, or to adjustment. Our data are based on studies of a large cotton factory near Buenos Aires. As incentives we consider wages and conditions of work. As a barrier to attendance we consider distance of residence from the plant. As barriers to adjustment we treat country of birth, age, and length of service with the company. On all of these factors our hypothesis is confirmed. Further research should test the validity of these concepts and seek other incentives and barriers to integration.