The links between absenteeism and commitment during downsizing
| Date | 01 August 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483489810213892 |
| Published date | 01 August 1998 |
| Pages | 312-324 |
| Author | Lawson K. Savery,Anthony Travaglione,Ian G.J. Firns |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Personnel
Review
27,4
312
Personnel Review,
Vol. 27 No. 4, 1998, pp. 312-324.
#MCB University Press, 0048-3486
Received January 1997
Revised June 1997
Accepted October 1997
The links between
absenteeism and commitment
during downsizing
Lawson K. Savery, Anthony Travaglione and Ian G.J. Firns
Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
Introduction
Privatisation and contracting out of non-core services previously provided by
publicly-owned organisations to gain economic benefits through greater
competition has of recent years featured in the policy thrust of State and
Federal Governments in Australia. In most cases, there has been a significant
reduction in the workforces of the publicly-owned bodies concerned, with a
number of these organisations introducing programmes which offer incentives
for employees to apply for voluntary redundancy. This paper reports the
results of an investigation into employee attitudes and absenteeism rates in
Westrail (the Western Australian Government Railways Commission), an
organisation which has undergone this process. The organisation has also
indicated its intention to introduce a total quality management (TQM) system
and this paper comments on the potential of such a strategy to achieve the
desired cultural change, to allow commitment rather than compliance (Guest,
1992; Legge, 1995) to drive employee behaviour in support of organisational
goals.
Westrail had downsized from the 1983 staffing level of 7,000 employees to
3,300 by March 1995. One major event in this process occurred in April 1993,
when the Western Australian State Government approved a plan submitted
by Westrail to close its heavy engineering workshops. The facility was
actually closed in April 1994, eliminating 750 jobs. Westrail's headquarters
staff was also reduced by 500 over the same period. All staff reductions were
achieved through a voluntary severance scheme which had, by March 1994,
attracted 2,483 expressions of interest. Although the scheme was voluntary
and no employees were retrenched, it seemed that many workshop employees
felt they had little future with Westrail. Some of the worst effects of the
retrenchment syndrome described by Margulis (1994), including threats,
broken marriages, breakdowns and suicides, were apparent. This suggests
that extensive voluntary redundancy programmes may evoke similar
reactions to those which occur in response to layoffs.
It was widely believed throughout the organisation that the closure of the
workshops was the last major downsizing event the organisation would
experience. A further reform programme, however, involving modernisation of
equipment, extensive outsourcing of services and the shedding of a further
1,350 jobs from the organisation over the ensuing two years, was announced
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