Artikel

Ziekteverzuim als instabiliteitsgedrag: een multicausaal probleem

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Abstract

Sickness absence as instability behavior: a multicausal problem – Sickness absence has already been studied since World War II. More recently, it is studied as a possible instability behavior on the labour market. Sickness absence is a real alternative for turn-over, strike, lateness, ... It has become a specific mass phenomenon with multicausal factors. Today, statistics tell that sickness absence could be compared with the legal holiday time. Sickness is the legitimation mostly for other reasons then objective disease facts. There are causing variables on different scales: the society (leisure time, the norm labour, sickness law, ...), the labour organisation (technology, bureaucracy, concentration, worktime, control policy, . ..) the micro-labour situation (control of the task, conditions of working, status, leadership, . . .) and last but not least the individual dimension (age, sex, other roles individual expectations, ...). In this article is made a balance of variables that are interdependent and that will make understandable the high of the barrier of sickness, and more important: the barrier of absence. Therefor is it more interesting to look for absence behavior than sickness behavior. A low barrier means a great need to be absent and also the possibility to absent, legitimated by sickness. As a conclusion, sickness absence is developed as one possibility to escape a conflict situation for a certain period in our social system. Afterwards the economic system could work with the same people, without resolving the problem. The growth of the problem since World War II is an evolution to a new social and cultural balance between labour and life.

How to Cite:

Henderickx, E., (1978) “Ziekteverzuim als instabiliteitsgedrag: een multicausaal probleem”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 23(1), 17–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.96075