The joint effects of noise, job complexity, and gender on employee sickness absence: An exploratory study across 21 organizations — the CORDIS study

Using objective indicators, organizational archives, and expert ratings, we examined the joint effects of noise, job complexity and gender on employee sickness absence. The sample consisted of 802 white-collar employees across 21 organizations in Israel. We hypothesized that noise would have the strongest positive correlation with absenteeism for female employees with high job complexity. The results supported this hypothesis. Moreover, the full regression model (including the sets of covariates, main effects terms, and interaction terms) explained a meaningful portion (34%) of the absenteeism measure. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future studies are discussed.