Absenteeism - A Major Inhibitor of Productivity in South Africa: A Clothing Industry Perspective

Absenteeism is an aspect of the organisational performance that can go unnoticed and is known to be as high as 15 percent in some companies, especially if late starting and early finishing is included. Absenteeism is a drain on productive work especially in the manufacturing industry and may be described as unorganised conflict where people show their dissatisfaction through absenteeism. Absenteeism is hampering economic growth in the region of R12 billion annually. While companies are working on continuous improvement initiatives that improve efficiency and performance, the severity of the problem of absence is a topic that has been neglected. Even though technology may enable one to work from home, the impact of what should be achieved in the workplace is hindered. To achieve a real competitive edge in industry, innovative managers are realising the crucial importance of making the most of existing resources. The clothing industry, being a labour intensive industry, was used to obtain data in the form of qualitative research, to shed light on the impact of lost productivity through absenteeism. The focus will therefore not only be on the negative issues of absence and how to improve it, but on the more positive (and critical) goal of developing an overall strategy to promote and improve attendance in industry. Absenteeism is directly related to technology management as it causes inefficiency in several ways. However the primary objective is to investigate the causes of absenteeism levels and the means of improving attendance, and the secondary objective will be to identify ways to manage and minimise absenteeism levels in the clothing industry.