Absenteeism and employee sharing: An empirical analysis based on French panel data, 1981-1991

Abstract

The authors investigate the effects on absenteeism of two types of employee sharing plans - profit-sharing and employee share ownership - in 127 French firms over the years 1981-91. Both types of plan were associated with statistically significant reductions in absenteeism. Most effective was the presence of a share ownership plan by itself (not in combination with profit-sharing), which was associated with a reduction in employee absence of approximately 14%. The presence of both plans together reduced absence by about 11%, and the presence of only a profit-sharing plan reduced absence by about 7%. Among firms in which both types of plan were present, a given sharing plan reduced absence more effectively when itwas introduced second than when it was introduced first; in fact, where employee share ownership already existed, the introduction of profit-sharing actually increased absence slightly.