Relationships Between Absenteeism and Violence at Work

Subject: Case Studies
Pages: 2
Words: 338
Reading time:
2 min

An ability to motivate employees and encourage their interest in the quality performance of immediate responsibilities is the valuable feature of a nursing administrator. Unwillingness to control the productivity of subordinates and their success, on the contrary, reduces the significance of a leader in the team and affects the results of work negatively. Subsequently, an insufficiently competent approach to the organisation of nursing activities is fraught with severe consequences. The concept of violence at work is one of the signs of inappropriate coordination. If the head of staff refers to his or her duties without initiative, poor outcomes of care become one of the factors that this problem entails. According to Kvas and Seljak, only 10-15% of the cases of violence at work is reported and discussed. This indicator is the evidence that a large number of employees hide those negative conditions in which they have to perform their duties. As a result, absenteeism manifests itself as the outcome of violence at work.

The relationships between absenteeism and violence at work are direct and evident. If employees are forced to experience discomfort and burden, this forces them to avoid performing immediate duties. Wressell, Rasmussen and Driscoll provide some examples of cases at an organisational level where violence manifests itself – increased turnover, the decreased quality of care, poor staff retention and some other consequences. Such phenomena are unacceptable in the environment where professional medical care is mandatory, and the health and safety of patients depend largely on the nursing staff. When employees experience depression, anxiety, anger and other negative emotions, this not only affects their productivity but also entails absenteeism. Reluctance is in the workplace and the desire to shy away from immediate responsibilities is the defence that helps personnel to cope with difficulties. Therefore, a nursing leader is to control the mode of subordinates’ work and take into account their needs in order to prevent the manifestations of violence and, accordingly, the poor quality of care.