Withdrawal Behaviours and Absenteeism at Work Post Covid-19

Abstract

Withdrawal behaviours and their manifestation in the form of absenteeism are negatively linked with the productivity of organizations and, therefore, a cause for concern for the management. This paper is aimed at discerning the determinants of withdrawal behaviour at an individual, group, and organizational level so as to formulate policies to mitigate the negative implications. This paper is a review of published literature on withdrawal and absenteeism at work and summarises critical points in relation to the Covid situation. This paper further reviews the problem during and post-pandemic literature and suggests the next steps in addressing it. Electronic databases of published peer-reviewed journals have been included in formulating the conceptual framework. Evidence-based research suggests Biographical characteristics, surface level, and deep-level diversities, including age, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation, are important individual-level inputs that determine the form in which employees will manifest withdrawal cognition. Additionally, group structure, cohesion, leadership style, organizational justice, and organizational culture are antecedents of withdrawal behaviour at the group or organizational level. Furthermore, the analysis of determinants and antecedents provided for inferring the positive impact of withdrawal behaviour on emotional exhaustion, which in turn may prevent turnover and increase productivity, provided that the organization positively reacts to the coping mechanism. All the above-mentioned inferences were instrumental in solving the dichotomy of evidence with respect to the impact of a continuing crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic on withdrawal behaviour, and the analysis indicates that the manifestation of withdrawal behaviours is aggravated in such situations. In the current scenario, human resource management should aim at enhancing employee engagement, job commitment, and job satisfaction by furthering the psychological contract of role expectation via assuring job security, providing compensation, engaging in active communication, and accommodating employees’ psychological needs.