Absenteeism

In discussing the question of absenteeism, it must be borne in mind that there are certain causes of absence which are mainly unavoidable, such as home duties, conditions of transportation and illness. On the other hand, absence due to fatigue, prolonged hours or insufficient wage incentive, could be prevented in a large part.

The week ending December 13, 1919, which was the typical week chosen by the Bureau of Women in Industry and the Telephone Company on which to base this study, was one in which the weather was not over severe nor was there an epidemic of any kind. If the accpted unit of absence one day is used, it is possible to determine the amount of absence in the operating force by finding what percentage the absentees are of the number of persons expected to work. On Monday, December 8th, 8.62% of the total operating force in New York State was absent from work. On Tuesday, December 9th, 6.99% of the total operating force in New York State was absent from work. On Wednesday, December 10th, 6.98% of the total operating force in New York State was absent from work. The amount of absenteeism in the Telephone Company, assuming these days to be typical, is higher than in many other industries, 5% absenteeism being considered usual.

As a result of absence among the telephone operating force for the week ending December 13th, 35.260+ productive hours were lost out of a total of 533,136 hours, or 6.61%. According to geographical division, the greatest amount of absenteeism occurred under Schedule III, made up largely of such cities as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, which shows that 7.56% of productive hours was lost as a result of absenteeism. The Manhattan Division of New York City lost 6.91% of productive hours.

The highest peak of lost time for the week ending December 13th was reached by those operators who lost from one to two days; the peak next in height was reached by those operators who were absent the entire week.

1000

Rid

For

१००

800

700

600

500

400

300

Comparing Number of Times Absentees
Were or Were Not Paid by

Company

Note: No absence of less than one day's duration was paid for by Company (238 absences of less than 2 day

305

"1/2 to 1 day's duration)

Not
Paid

Paid
For