Demographic trends of sick leave absenteeism among civil service employees at a federal agency from 2004 to 2012.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the associations between demographic variables and sick leave use.


METHODS
We analyzed sick leave use among civil servants at a federal agency (FA) from 2004 to 2012 by demographic and FA-specific variables. We used a mixed methods approach and type III analysis to build a descriptive model of sick leave proportions and demographic variables.


RESULTS
Sick absenteeism usage varied significantly (variation of greater than one sick day per year) by sex, Emergency Operations Center response tier, length of service at the FA, age, and general schedule pay grade level. Our final descriptive model contained age, sex, response tier and an interaction term between age and sex.


CONCLUSIONS
Future studies should examine these associations on smaller time scales, perhaps breaking the data down by month or day of the week.
From the Environment, Safety, and Health Compliance Office (Ms Gajewski, Ms Burris, Drs Spears, McNeil, Meechan, and Warnock), Security Services Office (Mr Trapp), and Program Grants Office (Ms Chapman), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Rollins School of Public Health (Dr Sullivan), Emory University, Atlanta, Ga; and Booz Allen Hamilton (Ms Oyinloye, Mr Decker), McLean, Va.
Kim
K
Gajewski
Dara
D
Burris
D Ross
DR
Spears
Kevin
K
Sullivan
Oluremi
O
Oyinloye
Carrie
C
McNeil
Paul
P
Meechan
Eli
E
Warnock
Jonathan
J
Trapp
K C
KC
Decker
Sandy
S
Chapman
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D035082:Federal Government; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010559:Personnel Management; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult