The Associated Press reports that a study conducted by Harris Interactive for the CCH has found that absenteeism in the U.S. are higher than they have been since 1999.
Skipping work without good reason? You have lots of company.
Unscheduled absenteeism at U.S. companies and organizations has climbed to its highest level since 1999, according to results of a recent nationwide survey of human resource executives in U.S. companies and organizations.
The survey, conducted for CCH by the Harris Interactive consulting firm, put the U.S. absenteeism rate at 2.5 percent in 2006, up from 2.3 percent a year ago and the highest since seven years ago when it was 2.7 percent.
It found that personal illness accounts for only 35 percent of unscheduled absences, with the rest due to family issues (24 percent), personal needs (18 percent), stress (12 percent) and entitlement mentality (11 percent).
It isn't just workers sneaking off for fun. The study found that companies with the worst morale also had higher rates of unscheduled absenteeism so there could be a job dissatisfaction element to the unscheduled absenteeism.
