Assessment of the status of sickness absence in a home appliance manufacturing company’s workers

Background: In recent years, sickness absence in industrialized societies has been accompanied by a lot of costs and problems and is still increasing. In addition, sickness absence is progressively used as a health indicator among the workforce. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the status of absenteeism due to illness in workers of a home appliance company Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on workers of a home appliance manufacturing company. Information about the number of days and episodes of sickness absence and personal information was collected. Results: The sickness absence in blue-collar worker was higher than the white-collar groups (OR=2.20 and P-value < 0.001). In addition, the total and long term absence in shift workers was higher than non-shift workers. Also, the elderly and higher body mass index were associated with lower sickness absence. Long-term sickness absence was more common among smokers than non-smokers. Conclusions: Findings of this study show that sickness absence among workers can be affected by various demographic and occupational factors including age, body mass index, smoking status, and work group.