ABSENCE FROM WORK

摘要

On one level absence is easy to define and identify: it is simply non-attendance at work by an employee when attendance is expected by the employer. Despite the apparent ease of definition, absence has proved to be a complex phenomenon that resists single or straightforward explanations. The above definition is not, in fact, describing a specific behaviour but rather the non-occurrence of a specific behaviour. In this sense absence is an administrative category rather than a behaviour. Many different circumstances and behaviours may underlie absence from work. Rather than viewing absence as a single behaviour, making careful distinctions between types of absence is vital for both understanding and managing absence.