Determinants in the use and misuse of sick leave entitlement in three diverse grades within the Malta public service

Abstract

Sick leave absenteeism is a type of absenteeism that is unforeseen by the management making it disruptive and costly to the organization. When there is recurrent sick leave absenteeism, this will affect not only the organisation’s performance but also the team’s morale. Sick leave abuse is a worldwide reality and it has to be tackled immediately once patterns start emerging, otherwise there is a risk of cultivating a culture that tolerates sick leave misuse. The aim of this research is to better understand the reasons behind sick leave misuse within the Malta Public Service and thus act as a guide for more robust formulation of sick leave policies and reinforcement of existing measures. This will aid in decreasing the amount of sick leave within the Malta Public Service, thus increasing productivity while cutting down financial expenses due to excessive sick leave utilisation. An internet mediated questionnaire was replied to by 546 participants within the Ministry for Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity. The research aimed to measure the relationship of work attitudes and sick leave utilisation for three grades within this Ministry, with the grades being Nursing grades, Administrative staff and Messengerial staff. The job nature of the three grades varies significantly and this study proposes to determine any common determinants behind the sick leave utilisation for the three grades. Descriptive statistics are used to present the results of this study. An analytic discussion will follow. It was observed that some factors such as a high emotional workload, remuneration and relationship with supervisor showed a relationship with sick leave. Other factors such as job autonomy and organisational commitment showed no relationship at all deviating from the literature findings.