Absenteísmo entre trabalhadores de uma universidade pública durante a pandemia de COVID-19

Abstract

Background: In recent decades, several initiatives by Brazilian society have sought to advance public policies for comprehensive care in Occupational Health, which include actions involving assistance, promotion, surveillance, and prevention of work-related injuries. In the university context, studies related to the causes of illness among permanent employees of Brazilian universities are scarce, as well as there is difficulty in finding data related to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2 (COVID-19) pandemic among these workers, who faced significant changes in their work routine, with the adoption of remote work and measures to contain the spread of the virus. Objective: to identify absenteeism through the number of certificates that led to the absence of active employees of a public university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: descriptive-exploratory, documentary, census-type study, with a quantitative approach, carried out based on data made available by the sector responsible for providing care to workers in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, through an electronic spreadsheet. Data analyzed descriptively using absolute and relative frequencies. Research protocol approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the proposing institution. Results: the sector involved in the study provided data referring to a total of 13,169 consultations performed by the health team (nursing staff and doctors) in 2020, 2021 and 2022. A significant number of consultations were recorded, even though the period was one of absence from the workplace, with the imposition of remote work for workers in various functions and sectors. Data from 2,428 cases studied showed a higher average number of certified cases among active female employees (mean: 2.85+2.00), adults between 30 and 39 (mean: 2.93+2.00) and between 40 and 49 years old (mean: 3.23+2.00), mid-level technical workers (mean: 3.25+2.00) and workers in the Health Sciences area (mean: 3.23+2.00). Conclusion: The need to monitor cases among women, adults and mid-level workers is highlighted, but the possibility of underreporting of cases cannot be ruled out. The rates of absenteeism due to illness among workers at the institution studied are high, indicating the need for studies in each workplace, seeking to detect causal problems specific to each sector and plan solutions. Regarding strategies to address absenteeism and illness, we highlight the leading role that can be played by civil servants, as members of the university and society, in the development of Workers' Health policies. Furthermore, we emphasize that the fight to guarantee healthier working conditions must have as its horizon the construction of a new sociability based on human emancipation and that, thus, enhances the health conditions of all social subjects regardless of the pandemic period or new health crises.