L'absentéisme est-il un problème dans le secteur de la construction ? Quel est son coût ? Peut-il être réduit ?

Abstract

For some companies, personnel costs represent 70 to 80% of their charges. This high percentage of costs cannot be underestimated. The costs that interest us in this paper are the management of personnel costs and specifically the cost of absenteeism. We analyze the costs of absenteeism due to private illness and private accident. Indeed, we hear more and more about absenteeism and it is increasing year after year in Belgium. The aim of our study is to know if absenteeism is a problem in the building sector, how it costs and if there are solutions that can be implemented in order to reduce it. Firstly, from a theoretical point of view we will explain the indicators of absenteeism that are relevant to our analysis. Then we will define the costs caused by an absence by introducing the direct cost and indirect cost. Afterwards we will focus on existing studies explaining the causes of absenteeism. Finally, we will consider the solutions that can be implemented to reduce absenteeism. Secondly, we will check if absenteeism is an issue for the respondents of the building companies and if they know his rate. In addition, we will identify the characteristics of the most problematic absences. Then, the second part will be dedicated to absenteeism costs. Do companies know the total cost of absences? We will define what is the direct cost and indirect cost that companies suffer when a white-collar or a blue-collar is absent for all types of durations: short, medium or long. The last part will analyze if it is possible to reduce absenteeism.