Stress and Absenteeism in Civilian Employees Supervised by Army Sergeants: Empirical Evidence from Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Abstract

Past literature suggests that leadership style impacts employee attitudes and job performance in organizations. Given the broad scope of military operations, there are many situations in military where military managers supervise civilian employees.  Our empirical study explores the effects of Army sergeant supervision of civilian employees at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  Eight themes in Army sergeants’ perceptions as supervisor of federal civilian employees were studied in-depth: (a) task, (b) education training, (c) family, (d) rules & regulations, (e) open communications, (f) last minute task, (g) direct leadership, and (h) experience.  Our findings show that mismatch between leader perceptions and employee expectations lead to stress and absenteeism. Implications for future research and suggestions to reduce stress and absenteeism are discussed.