Absenteeism Affecting to Employee’s Performance: An Empirical Investigation among Team Member Category Employees at Leading Apparel Company in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The company's biggest asset is its people yet keeping them on task seems to be the most challenging part. Specifically, due to increasing demand and intense competition, employee performance is crucial for the apparel industry. Based on the company’s secondary data, the researcher discovered that the organization has had a significant reduction in actual performance compared to expected performance and a high rate of absenteeism in the team member category since 2019. Hence, the study empirically investigates the impact of absenteeism on performance in leading apparel across a few factors associated with absenteeism, such as job expectations, working conditions, and work relationships. A mix method and a cross-sectional approach were used for the study. Primary data were collected using a pre-structured interview and a survey questionnaire. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample of 274 team members. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software, and descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and regression analysis were performed. The research findings statistically proved significant positive relationships between job expectations, working conditions, and work relationships and employee performance. Based on the findings, recommendations were made.