Abstract:
Cabin Crews' working life is often conflicted by the demands of family
and/or the need to attend to pressing personal matters that unexpectedly
arise. Their job also requires them to meet tight time schedules outside of
what is considered 'normal' working hours. Therefore, the practice of
taking a day off sick to attend (i.e. the 'sickie') has become widespread.
Thus, a large sample survey (N=1897) was conducted to identify the
attitudes toward and underlying behaviours leading to both genuine and
non-genuine absenteeism from work of cabin crew in a major Australian
airline company (hereinafter referred to as AIRCO),
AIRCO realises that flexibility in workplace practices can lead to a
reduction in non-genuine absenteeism. Thus, it offered non-financial
support in the conduct of this survey,.The company realised that if it can
better understand the reasons for cabin crew taking non-genuine absence
from work, then it is better placed to address the underlying causes of this
practice, whilst also improving the efficiency of this resource. In addition,
cabin crew were also supportive of the study, as it would inform them
about this critical issue in the upcoming EBA negotiations.
The cabin crew attitudes presented here are consistent with previous
surveys conducted in the industry (Stewart, 1999; Pope, 1999), however,
the underlying causes identified here go well beyond previous surveys.
The authors use the data collected to propose interventions that have
potential to reduce the incidence of cabin crew taking non-genuine
absence from work to attend to pressing personal matters within 'normal'
working hours, Thus, offering AIRCO the prospect of improving
operational efficiencies through the reduction in the non-genuine 'sickie'
absenteeism and a more flexible approach that allows cabin crew to better
balance the demands of pressing personal matters and the demands of
work.
