Sickness absenteeism among outsourced hygiene and cleaning workers at a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, 2015-2017.

Background: Absenteeism refers to frequent absences from work without producing a medical certificate or having been granted sick leave.

Objective: To establish the rate of short-term sickness absenteeism (1 to 15 days) among outsourced hygiene and cleaning workers at a university hospital.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of all medical and dental certificates collected by the contractor along two years (2015 through 2017).