Absence in the workplace is something companies of all sizes and sectors must deal with. The key to understanding if it’s an issue within your organization – and ultimately finding a sustainable solution – is first finding the absence rate and learning how to decipher it, writes, Carlos Quintana, Freelance Writer .
Absences in the workplace are prevalent regardless of schedule, sector, or level. It’s just another moving piece of the working world. That’s why it’s essential to understand your employee absence rate and know how to calculate it.
Are you aware of the impact that absences have in the workplace? Is your company calculating the employee absence rate correctly? Do you know how to tackle absenteeism effectively? We’re going to dive into some of those questions and provide some formulas to help you begin optimizing your business.
Why Is the Cost of Absence Often Misunderstood or Neglected?
Despite the dramatic evidence that exists regarding the large scale costs of absenteeism and presenteeismOpens a new window in the workplace, many companies still misunderstand and neglect these costs. Moreover, this attitude has almost nothing to do with using tools or software. Then, why are so many companies lost when it comes to absence management?
There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, a lot of companies, especially small ones, don’t understand how to deal with absences. As explained by HR consultant Lucy FitzgeraldOpens a new window , this “is probably due to competing priorities and a lack of knowledge in dealing with such situations, especially if the business owner knows the employee well.â€
Second, many companies simply fear change. Having high levels of absenteeism is an open invitation to changing your work culture. The problem with that is that many companies are not willing to challenge their ways of doing business as usual.
If your company isn’t doing anything regarding absence management, it’s quite likely one of the two reasons above resonated with you. But two critical questions remain – why should you monitor your absence rates, and how can you do it?
A Standard Formula to Calculate Employee Absence Rate
Before we move into the math of how to calculate your employee absence rate, it is essential to understand the framework surrounding the concept of absence. Let’s start with a straightforward definition.
According to the report “Opens a new window Absence from workOpens a new window †published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, absence is non-attendance at work when attendance was scheduled or expected.
Along those lines, absences are those instances that prevent someone from going to work, such as health-related issues, childcare problems, or civic duty. That means that absences don’t include vacation time, personal days, holidays, or labor disputes.
While all this sounds pretty straightforward, the reality is that absences are recorded in different ways across countries. For example, in a country like Norway, the definition of absence doesn’t include caring for family members, while in Poland, this is specifically included. In other words, calculating your absence rate will depend on where you live.
Keeping that in mind, let’s move onto the concept of absence rate, also known as absenteeism rate or absence percentage. Absence rate is the rate of unplanned absence resulting from various causes such as sickness, childcare, and the like. This rate can be calculated for individual employees, for teams, and the organization.
Although the definition of absence changes across countries, we can still use a standard formula to calculate employee absence rate. The following is the standard measure used by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO):
Absence rate = (number of absent days / number of available workdays in a given period) x 100
As you can see, this formula includes two variables:
- Number of absent days
- Number of available workdays in a given period
For the first variable, you just need to track the absences of your employees. For the second one, you need to follow your country’s guidelines regarding absence tracking and do your math.
Let’s see an example to understand this better.
Let’s say that Peter, one of your full-time employees, was absent ten days in 2019. Since we already know the number of missing days (10), you need to calculate the number of available working days during that year. Start with the total number of days (365) in a year. Then, subtract the following: weekends (102), public holidays (11), and voluntary days off (20). So, it’ll look something like this:
Number of available workdays: 365 – (102 + 11 + 20) = 232
Now, you can calculate Peter’s absence rate: (10 / 232) x 100 = 4.3%
But, what does Peter’s 4.3% rate say to you? This could be high, as absence greater than 1.5% could be an indication of burnout, conflict at work, or any non-physical cause.
However, if Peter had terrible flu and was forced to stay in bed for two weeks, that doesn’t necessarily fall under absenteeism. It’s also important to note that you shouldn’t be too happy if Peter’s absence rate were below 1.5%, as that could be a sign of presenteeism. Workplace presenteeism can be even worse for your business, as demonstrated in the infographic about absenteeism vs. presenteeism below.
Opens a new window
The most important thing about calculating the employee absence rate is that you can quickly identify patterns and trends that can lead to absenteeism. If you want to identify those patterns and trends more effectively, you can use some additional formulas to assess absenteeism within your organization better.
Additional Measures to Assess Employee Absence
Besides the employee absence rate, some additional measures will help you deal with the frequency and severity of the absences that occur in your company. Let’s take a look.
Lost time rate
As explained by Lucy Fitzgerald, lost time rate “shows the percentage of the total time available that has been lost due to any type of absence during a certain period.†Use the following formula to calculate that percentage:
Lost time rate = (total absence [hours or days] / total hours or days of the period analyzed) x 100
Let’s go back to Peter. Let’s start by saying that Peter was supposed to work 150 hours during January. However, he missed 10 hours of work. If that’s the case, his lost time rate for that month would be the following:
Peter’s lost time rate = (10 / 150) x 100 = 7%
A high lost time rate can indicate a problematic absenteeism rate. Still, it’s essential to keep in mind that this rate is not accurate, as it can be distorted by particular combinations of absence duration and the number of absent employees.
Frequency rate
This rate expresses the average number of absences per worker during a given period. To calculate this rate, use the following formula:
Frequency rate = (total number of periods of absence / total number of employees) x 100
However, if you want to focus on the number of individual employees who have been absent during a specific period, you need to use a slightly different formula:
Individual frequency rate = (total number of employees who were absent / total number of employees) x 100
To illustrate the above, let’s imagine that during a particular period, there were ten periods of absence incurred by five employees out of a total of 30 employees. If we use the formulas we mentioned before, we will get the following rates:
Frequency rate = (10 / 30) x 100 = 33%
Individual frequency rate = (5 / 30) x 100 = 17%
Severity rate
With severity rate, you can find out the average length of time lost per absence. If this rate is high, it may be a warning sign of absenteeism. Apply the following formula to calculate your employees’ severity rate:
Severity rate = (total number of days absent during a period / total number of times missing during that period) x 100
If you can measure the frequency and severity rates within your organization, you will be in a much better position to identify trends that may lead to absenteeism. “High frequency and severity rates indicate that the employee is absent more frequently and for longer durations, each time resulting in high absenteeism even in absolute terms,†argues an article posted on EconomicsDiscussion.netOpens a new window .
Bradford factor score
Finally, it is worth mentioning the Bradford factor score, a useful measure aimed at identifying recurring short-term absences, which are usually considered more disruptive for business than long-term absences. Let’s see how to calculate the Bradford factor score:
Bradford factor score = (number of occasions of absence)² x total number of days of absence
Keep in mind that the Bradford factor score is calculated annually. Let’s take a look at one quick example so you can see how useful this score is in terms of monitoring short-term absences.
Let’s say that Peter took one absence and was absent for ten days. His Bradford score would be the following: (1)² x 10 = 10.
On the other hand, John took five absences and was absent ten days (meaning that each absence lasted about two days). His Bradford score would be the following: (5)² x 10 = 250.
As you can see, both Peter and John were absent from the same number of days. However, John’s score offers an indication that his short-term absences are recurring because the higher the score, the more frequent the absences are.
John’s score could also be a sign that he is struggling in the current job environment. A secure manager would pinpoint this as a red flag and find an opportunity to address this potential issue.
Promoting a Well-Being Culture at Work
Calculating the employee absence rate and assessing absences using the formulas highlighted should be part of a process aimed at fixing problems within your organization. Perhaps the most important thing about these formulas is that you can use them as a point of reference to compare absences among employees, departments, and even your industry.
In a perfect world, your focus should be on preventing absenteeism from happening in the first place. But how can you use your absence data to achieve that goal? Lucy Fitzgerald suggests setting triggers or stages that allow you to manage absences. For example, “any number of absences that establish a set pattern of absence (e.g., Mondays, Fridays, before or after holidays) will result in an absence review meeting,†says Fitzgerald.
While steps like this can go a long way in terms of managing absences, it’s just one part of a much bigger effort. If you genuinely want to tackle absenteeism in the workplace, you should always be open to making changes within your work culture. Furthermore, it would be wise for you to promote a culture of well-being, one where employees feel both engaged and motivated at work. Taking care of your employee absence rate may be the perfect place to start working towards that goal.