The purpose of this paper was to study the profile of absenteeism in a state bank and to establish the more frequent causes for sick leaves among the members of the staff. A cross-cut, descriptive and quantitative study was developed for approaching absenteeism and its most frequent causes in a state bank in the state of Minas Gerais between 1998 and 2003. The absenteeism rates were homogenous, with a decrease during the period of the study, except for the frequency rates, as a result of alterations in their numerators and denominators. The prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases and mental disorders was of 33,25 and 22,21 leaves per 1,000 workers respectively. Leaves of women and workers in relatively low-pay positions, aged between 40 and 49, married, working in the institution for over 21 years predominated. The study indicated that sick leaves due to musculoskeletal diseases that where predominating before in the company are decreasing. On the other hand, there was an increase of cases of mental and behavioral disorders, indicating a possible change in the health profile. However, further studies will be necessary to corroborate these results.
Absenteeism; Musculoskeletal diseases; Mental and behavioral disorders; Bank work
