The Relation Between Employee Attendance and Productivity

Abstract

The problem. Absenteeism has been identified as a major problem among employees who are paid on an hourly basis. The use of operant procedures to correct attendance problems has been successful, but most programs have relied exclusively on monetary reinforcers. Furthermore, applied researchers have yet to examine the relationship between measures of attendance and productivity. The present study investigated the effectiveness of non-monetary reinforcers on attendance and the relationship between attendance and productivity. Procedures. Daily attendance feedback and social reinforcement were used to improve employee attendance. Workers' productivity was monitored concurrently to determine the relation to changes in attendance. Findings. Both feedback and social reinforcement were effective in improving attendance. The mean rate of productivity among workers was found to increase slightly as absenteeism increased. Conclusions. Non-monetary relnforcers can effectively control employee absenteeism. Worker productivity may change with changes in group attendance and such performance variables should be considered in future attendance improvement efforts. Recommendations. The present study manipulated attendance variables and measured productivity concurrently. More research is needed to further assess relationships between these variables. It would also be helpful to examine how attendance changes when production variables are manipulated.