Demographic Trends of Sick Leave Absenteeism among Civil Service Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2004-2012 Open Access

Abstract

For organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), understanding trends and variations in sick leave use within the workforce is essential for the development of surge capacity plans and targeted leave messaging, which may ultimately contribute to a higher attendance rate and healthier workforce. We analyzed sick leave use among CDC civil servants working in Atlanta, GA between 2004-20012 by demographic variables including age, gender, length of service, and pay grade, as well as CDC-specific variables including emergency response tier qualification and retirement plan. Then we used a mixed methods approach and Type III analysis to build a descriptive model of sick leave proportions and demographic variables.

Sick absenteeism usage varied significantly (variation of greater than 1 sick day per year) by gender, EOC response tier, length of service at the CDC, age, and GS pay grade level. Women took on average 2 full days of sick leave per year more than men. Participants between 35-44 years old took the most sick leave of any age group. Those among the higher response tiers took significantly less sick leave than those among the lower response tiers. Further, the proportion of sick leave taken by those among the highest response tier was significantly lower than the population's average proportion of sick leave (5.3 days per year vs. 7.3 days per year).

Our final descriptive model contained age, gender, response tier and an interaction term between age and gender. While younger women tended to have lower proportions of sick leave than men in the same age category, women between 45-54 years old had significantly higher proportions of sick leave than men in the same age category controlling for age and response tier qualification.

This study was the first of its kind to examine the relationship between demographics and absenteeism at the CDC, and provides an initial stepping stone for further investigation into these complex associations. Future studies should examine these associations on smaller time scales, perhaps breaking the data down by month or even day of the week.

Table of Contents

I. Background/Literature Review. 1

Individual Predictors. 3

• Gender. 4

• Age. 5

• Length of service. 6

• Pay Grade. 7

Group Predictors. 8

Organizational Predictors. 9

• Retirement plan. 10

CDC-Specific Predictor. 12

• Emergency Operations Center responder tier. 12

II. Manuscript. 16

Abstract. 16

Introduction. 18

• Null Hypotheses. 21

Methods. 22

Results. 28

• Demographic. 28

• Modeling. 29

Discussion. 32

• Strengths and Limitations. 36

• Conclusion. 40

References. 42

Tables. 48

Figures. 50

III. Summary and future directions. 53

Appendices. 56

• Appendix A.. 56

• Appendix B.. 57

• Appendix C.. 58

• Appendix D.. 59

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Epidemiology
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Keyword	absenteeism sick leave
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Sullivan, Kevin M, Emory University
Committee Members	Spears, Ross, CDC
Partnering Agencies	CDC

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	Demographic Trends of Sick Leave Absenteeism among Civil Service Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2004-2012 ()	2018-08-28 11:59:30 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions