Absenteeism and Employee Sharing: An Empirical Analysis Based on French Panel Data, 1981–1991

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 it was 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.