Absence from work and job satisfaction: A case study developed in the municipality of Bragança, Portugal Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Absence from work has a direct impact on the quality of the service provided by the council to its citizens. The aim of this research is to analyse the correlation between work absenteeism at the Town Council of Bragança and job satisfaction; identify factors concerning the type of work as well as the worker’s attitudes, behaviours and values which may be correlated to job satisfaction. To achieve these objectives, it was developed a quantitative, observational and cross-sectional study involving a survey conducted among the workers of a medium-sized municipality located in the northeast of Portugal. The correlations were tested by using Spearman’s statistic test for a level of significance of 5%. From the 71 workers surveyed, 28 had already been absent from their workplace. The main causes stated by workers to justify their absence were sickness, short (14.1) and long-term (7%), family caregiving (12.7%), and others (8.5%). The existence of a correlation between absenteeism and job satisfaction was not proved. However, correlations were observed between job satisfaction and type of work (Sig.<.05). Although no statistically significant correlation was found between job satisfaction and absenteeism, there are some factors associated with the type of work and with workers’ attitudes, behaviours and goals which showed to be correlated to job satisfaction. Therefore, it is recommendable that middle and executive managers continue to improve such conditions so as to increase the productivity, quality and efficiency of the service provided to citizens by council workers.
  • This work is supported by: the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalisation Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project No. 006971 (UID/SOC/04011)]; and national funds, through the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID/SOC/04011/2013.

publication date

  • January 1, 2018