Analytics · HR glossary

Absenteeism

Absenteeism is absence from scheduled work, commonly measured using unplanned absence hours or days. Employers must define which absences are included and use matching units in the calculation.

Example

A team records 40 unplanned absence hours out of 2,000 scheduled hours, giving an absence rate of 40 divided by 2,000, or 2%.

What to keep in mind

A rate does not reveal why someone was absent. Distinguish authorised leave and protected circumstances, and investigate workload, health or scheduling issues before assuming an attendance problem is misconduct.

Put it into practice

Absenteeism rate calculator

Further reading

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