Long-term absenteeism is a persistent problem in the police organisation in the Netherlands. Around 4% of staff has been absent for over three months. For the National Police's Enhancing Professional Resilience programme, we conducted research into opportunities for increasing people's resilience when returning to work after such a long period of absenteeism. This research provides suggestions for dealing with the problem of long-term absenteeism effectively. The following issues turned out to be important: the scope of employees of their reintegration process, reciprocity in the relationship between line manager and police employee, greater knowledge of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its causes and finally, dealing with diversity in the organisation in an active manner.
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BACKGROUND: Knowledge about the beneficial role of physical activity (PA) for health and school performance is growing. Studies investigating the link between PA and school absenteeism due to illness are lacking. Therefore, we investigated associations between habitual PA and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents and explored whether mental health and cardiovascular fitness mediated this association. METHODS: We studied 328 students in grades 7 and 9 (mean age 13.8 years; 49% boys). The PA was measured objectively by an ActivPAL3™ accelerometer attached on the thigh during 1 full week (24 hours/day). Depressive symptoms and self-esteem were self-reported by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, respectively, and included as a proxy for mental health in the analyses. Cardiovascular fitness was measured by the 20-m shuttle-run test. School absenteeism due to illness data was provided by the school administration. RESULTS: The PA was not significantly associated with school absenteeism, though there was an indirect association between PA and school absenteeism by cardiovascular fitness. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular fitness mediates the association between PA and school absenteeism due to illness. Thus, cardiovascular fitness of students should be improved to reduce school absenteeism due to illness.
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Background: Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are a leading cause of reduced work functioning. It is not known which factors are associated with reduced work functioning in people with moderate MUPS. Insight in these factors can contribute to prevention of reduced work functioning, associated work-related costs and in MUPS becoming chronic. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify which demographic and health-related factors are associated with reduced work functioning, operationalized as impaired work performance and absenteeism, in people with moderate MUPS. Methods: Data of 104 participants from an ongoing study on people with moderate MUPS were used in this cross-sectional study. Ten independent variables were measured at baseline to determine their association with reduced work functioning: severity of psychosocial symptoms (four domains, measured with the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire), physical health (RAND 36-Item Health Survey), moderate or vigorous physical activity (Activ8 activity monitor), age, sex, education level and duration of complaints. Two separate multivariable linear regression analyses were performed with backward stepwise selection, for both impaired work performance and absenteeism. Results: Absenteeism rate rose with 2.5 and 0.6% for every increased point on the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire for domain 'depression' (B = 0.025, SE = 0.009, p = .006) and domain 'somatization' (B = 0.006, SE = 0.003, p = .086), respectively. An R2 value of 0.118 was found. Impaired work performance rate rose with 0.2 and 0.5% for every increased point on the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire for domain 'distress' (B = 0.002, SE = 0.001, p = .084) and domain 'somatization' (B = 0.005, SE = 0.001, p < .001), respectively. An R2 value of 0.252 was found. Conclusions: Severity of distress, probability of a depressive disorder and probability of somatization are positively associated with higher rates of reduced work functioning in people with moderate MUPS. To prevent long-term absenteeism and highly impaired work performance severity of psychosocial symptoms seem to play a significant role. However, because of the low percentage of explained variance, additional research is necessary to gain insight in other factors that might explain the variance in reduced work functioning even better.
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Objectives This paper is the first multidisciplinary study into the impact of new skill requirements in the job on absenteeism. The aim of this study was to investigate whether economic skills obsolescence (ESO) increased both absence frequency and average duration mediated by burnout and/or work engagement.Methods A longitudinal study was conducted on data from the Dutch Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (N=4493). Structural equation modelling was used to test the specific direct and indirect effects of ESO on absence frequency and average duration, followed by bootstrapping to compute the confidence intervals.Results ESO at baseline had a positive relationship with burnout at follow-up. In turn, burnout was positively related to both absence frequency and average absence duration at follow-up. The bootstrap indirect effect test showed that ESO had a significant positive indirect effect, via burnout and (lower) work engagement, on absence frequency and average duration. Furthermore, ESO at baseline was negatively related to work engagement at follow-up. Work engagement, in turn, was negatively related to absence frequency and average duration at follow-up. The bootstrap test showed that ESO had a significant indirect effect, via work engagement, on absence frequency.Conclusion ESO is associated with subsequent absence frequency and average duration of workers, both mediated by burnout and decreased work engagement.
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Sickness absenteeism among flight crews is a pervasive problem disruptive to operations and costly for the employer. According to literature, exposure to certain schedule attributes has been associated with adverse health issues. However, the relationship between schedule characteristics and sickness absenteeism remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify schedule characteristics increasing the odds of sickness absenteeism based on historical data. Here, data records for each flight crew member were obtained from a Dutch low-cost airline in the period between 1 January 2018 and 24 January 2020. Schedule characteristics with an adverse effect on both the circadian and/or social rhythm, as identified in literature, were extracted from the available data, and included in the model. Exploration on these potential harmful schedule attributes was done using two generalised additive models. After adjusting for the socio-demographic and work-related confounding variables, simulations revealed that employees exposed to night shifts, backward, and forward rotations over a thirty-day period were significantly more likely to report sick. Furthermore, employees who flew four sectors showed higher odds to call in sick compared to employees who flew two sectors. Based on the results, it is recommended to schedule either sufficient rest periods after exposure or limit the occurrence of the identified schedule attributes.
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Change has become continuous, and innovation is a primary approach for hospitality, i.e., hotel companies, to become or remain economically viable and sustainable. An increasing number of management researchers are paying more attention to workplace rather than technological innovation. This study investigates workplace innovation in the Dutch hotel industry, in three- and four-star hotels in the Netherlands, by comparing them to other industries. Two samples were questioned using the Workplace Innovation survey created by the Dutch Network of Social Innovation (NSI). The first was conducted in the hospitality industry, and these data were compared with data collected in a sample of other industries. Results suggest that greater strategic orientation on workplace innovation and talent development has a positive influence on four factors of organizational performance. Greater internal rates of change, the ability to self-organize, and investment in knowledge also had positive influences on three of the factors—growth in revenue, sustainability, and absenteeism. Results also suggest that the hospitality industry has lower workplace innovation than other industries. However, no recent research has assessed to what degree the hospitality industry fosters workplace innovation, especially in the Netherlands. Next to that, only few studies have examined management in the Dutch hotel industry, how workplace innovation is used there, and whether it improves practices.
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Annual rhythms in humans have been described for a limited number of behavioral and physiological parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate time-of-year variations in late arrivals, sick leaves, dismissals from class (attendance), and grades (performance). Data were collected in Dutch high school students across 4 academic years (indicators of attendance in about 1700 students; grades in about 200 students). Absenteeism showed a seasonal variation, with a peak in winter, which was more strongly associated with photoperiod (number of hours of daylight) compared with other factors assessed (e.g., weather conditions). Grades also varied with time of year, albeit differently across the 4 years. The observed time-of-year variation in the number of sick leaves was in accordance with the literature on the seasonality of infectious diseases (e.g., influenza usually breaks out in winter). The winter peak in late arrivals was unexpected and requires more research. Our findings could be relevant for a seasonal adaptation of school schedules and working environments (e.g., later school and work hours in winter, especially at higher latitudes where seasonal differences in photoperiod are more pronounced).
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In February 2017, seven partners signed a contract to collaborate on a project called the Healthy Workplace. Measuremen, Menzis, Health2Work, ENGIE, Planon, and Hanzehogeschool Groningen are dedicated to make the regular workplace a healthy workplace. Health is of primary importance for both the employee and employer. Employees want to be healthy, feel energized and reach an old age. While every organization wishes for the benefits of energized and healthy employees by increased engagement and less absenteeism.
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Due to personnel shortages, an aging workforce and high job demands in the European healthcare sector, healthcare organizations must invest in the sustainable employability (SE) of their personnel.1–3 In the Netherlands, there were more than 53,000 vacancies in the care and welfare sector in 2024, a number expected to rise to more than 288,000 vacancies by 2034.4 Furthermore, the absenteeism rate among Dutch healthcare professionals was 7.3% in 2024.5 This shortage of personnel and high absenteeism rate places significant pressure on the remaining professionals. In the Netherlands, 43% of healthcare professionals rated their job demands as (much) too high in 2024.5 To manage these high job demands, healthcare professionals need to maintain both vitality and a sufficient level of work ability. Consequently, healthcare organizations need effective strategies to promote their professionals’ SE. But how can healthcare organizations improve the work ability and vitality of their professionals? This study replicates and extends earlier research on the determinants of work ability and vitality at work.
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Nederland kent op dit moment ruim 5 miljoen mantelzorgers. Het aantal mantelzorgers zal in de komende jaren naar verwachting toenemen doordat het aantal ouderen in de samenleving sterk toeneemt en deze ouderen steeds vaker zelfstandig wonen. Mantelzorgers, mantelzorgondersteuners en beleidsmakers benadrukken dat wanneer alles goed en soepel loopt de zorgtaken vaak voldoening geven en een positieve invloed kunnen hebben op het leven van de zorgvrager en de mantelzorger. Een goede balans tussen draagkracht en draaglast is echter essentieel om de zorgtaken te kunnen volhouden en deze voldoening te kunnen blijven voelen.
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