Job absenteeism is of major concern to any organisational workplace and costs companies thousands of dollars per year. Many studies are conducted to examine the grounds behind absenteeism and most suggest a relatively consistent, but moderate, relationship between job satisfaction and absence. 'The impact of psychological distress on absence from work' written by Gillian Hardy, Toby Wall and David Woods explores psychological distress and job satisfaction as predictors of absence and also the effects of the two components of psychological distress on absence; depression and anxiety.
             Organisational records were assembled from 323 staff across 4 National Health Services (NHS) Trusts. The survey included questions requesting biographical information, psychological distress and a measure of job satisfaction. Absence data was collected via the Trust records and noted that absence due to annual leave, study leave or maternity leave was excluded from the data collection.
             The results of this study provide support regarding the relationship between psychological distress, job satisfaction and absence from work. There were a number of methodological approaches implemented to test if high levels of psychological distress result in increased absence from work. Each of the tests conducted found evidence of such a link. Secondly, work related distress and anxiety were significantly correlated to subsequent absence. Finally, an increase in psychological distress was significantly related to an increase in subsequent absence, and vice versa.
             Some bias is present in the results of this investigation. The participants included all members of the health industry and thus the results demonstrated are only relevant to this particular industry and not every organisation. Hospital environments have a glum atmosphere as it mostly deals with sickness and death, a setting that can easily be related to depression, influencing the results dramatically.
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