How to detect absenteeism with data: indicators, calculation and what to do next

In an SME, absenteeism is felt before it is measured: the shift that is always short-staffed, the Monday when two people are missing, the colleague who covers gaps and ends up burnt out. But feeling it is no use for acting, because without data you do not know whether the problem is a team, a shift, a season or a person, nor whether what is happening is a long sick leave, which cannot be touched, or a string of short unjustified absences, which can. This guide explains what absenteeism is and is not, which indicators to calculate with the data you already have in the working-time record and in absences, how to read them without drawing false conclusions and what a company can legally do with what it finds.

What absenteeism is and what it is not

Absenteeism is time when a worker should be working and is not. Within that definition very different things coexist:

Justified absences: sick leave, paid leave under the Workers’ Statute and the collective agreement, family force-majeure absences, medical appointments where the agreement recognises them.
Unjustified absences: absences without notice or certificate, repeated lateness, leaving early.
What is not absenteeism: holidays, rest periods, maternity and paternity leave, strikes or training. Including them inflates the rate and makes it useless.

The distinction is not only statistical. Justified absences due to illness cannot have consequences on employment: the objective dismissal ground for absences in the former article 52.d) was repealed in 2020. Unjustified ones can be handled under the agreement’s disciplinary regime, provided they are documented. That is why the first step is for every absence to be classified by type, as we explain in the guide to medical absences in the SME.

The data you already have

You do not need a survey or a consultant. An SME with a digital working-time record and absence management has:

Theoretical hours for each person per day, from the work calendar and the contract.
Recorded hours for each day, from time tracking.
Absences with type, start and end, from the absence module.
Structure: site, team, shift, category, seniority.

With that, everything that follows can be calculated. Without a digital record, the calculation is an afternoon of Excel a month and is usually abandoned by the second.

The indicators that matter

Absenteeism rate

Rate = absence hours / theoretical hours × 100, for the period you choose. Calculate it twice: once with all absences and once only with unjustified ones. The first tells you what covering gaps costs; the second, where there is a management problem. Compare it with your agreement or sector if data are published; if not, compare with yourself month by month.

Frequency and average duration

Frequency = number of absence episodes per person and period. Average duration = absence hours or days / number of episodes. Two teams can have the same rate with opposite realities: one with two long sick leaves and another with twenty one-day absences. The second is the one that requires looking at how work is organised.

Bradford factor

It is the classic indicator for spotting short, repeated absences, which are the most disruptive: B = S² × D, where S is the number of episodes and D the total days absent in the period, usually a year. A person with one 20-day sick leave scores 1 × 1 × 20 = 20; another with ten two-day absences scores 10 × 10 × 20 = 2,000. The factor does not say why anyone is absent; it says whom it is worth asking, and always distinguishing justified from unjustified.

Gap between recorded and theoretical hours

A less known and very useful indicator: people who every day record fewer hours than the theoretical ones with no declared absence. It is not formal absenteeism, but it is the early signal of a schedule not being kept or of a clock-in problem. Time tracking’s effective-hours and deviation reports show it directly.

How to read the data without fooling yourself

Segment before concluding. By site, team, shift, weekday and month. “Company-wide” absenteeism almost never exists; the night shift’s, Mondays’ or one team with a particular manager’s does.
Separate long sick leaves. A six-month leave distorts a small team’s rate all year. Analyse it separately.
Look for patterns, not culprits. Absences concentrated in a shift point to that shift’s organisation; absences concentrated in one person point to a conversation with that person, not an automatic sanction.
Watch the trend, not the month. Three months rising in a row is a signal; one bad month may be the flu.
Cross-check with turnover and overtime. A team with high absenteeism, high turnover and high overtime is saying the same thing three ways. HR metrics are read together.

What the company can and cannot do with what it finds

It can

Review the organisation of work where absences concentrate: workloads, shifts, rest periods, relationship with the manager.
Talk to the person with repeated short absences to understand the cause, respecting their privacy and without asking for diagnoses.
Verify the state of health during sick leave through an examination by medical staff (article 20.4 of the Workers’ Statute).
Apply the agreement’s disciplinary regime to documented unjustified absences, proportionately and within the limitation periods.
Improve the conditions that reduce avoidable absences: flexibility, predictable schedules, digital disconnection.

It cannot

Sanction or dismiss for absences justified by illness or by legal leave.
Process health data beyond what is necessary: the type of absence and its dates, not the diagnosis.
Use the Bradford factor or any indicator as an automatic sanction without analysing each case.
Publish rankings of absences per person; individual data are confidential and processed with restricted access.

A twenty-minute monthly process

Export the month’s absences with their type and the recorded hours against the theoretical ones.
Calculate the total rate and the unjustified rate, by site and by team.
Look at the frequency and average duration of the teams with the highest rate.
Update the year’s cumulative Bradford factor and review the three highest values, separating justified and unjustified.
Note one action per finding: a shift review, a conversation, a change of cover, and check the following month whether the indicator moved.

How LapsoWork solves it

Absences classified by type from the app, with the certificate attached and manager approval, and with types customisable to the agreement.
Working-time reports: effective hours, overtime, breaks and deviations, filtered by site, team or employee.
Absence report exportable to Excel, with taken, pending and expired days per person and type, to calculate the rate and the Bradford factor.
Shared calendar by team, showing cover before someone else is missing.
Complete history of each absence with date, status and approver.

All from €2 per employee per month on the Basic plan, with the leave and absence module and time tracking. And if the problem turns out to be turnover, we have a guide on how to reduce employee turnover.

Frequently asked questions

How is the absenteeism rate calculated?

By dividing absence hours by the theoretical working hours of the period and multiplying by one hundred. It should be calculated twice: with all absences and only with unjustified ones, and segmented by site, team and shift. Holidays, rest periods and maternity and paternity leave are not included.

What is the Bradford factor?

An indicator that penalises short, repeated absences over long ones: it is calculated by squaring the number of absence episodes and multiplying by the total days absent in the period. It serves to decide whom to ask, not to sanction, and must be read distinguishing justified and unjustified absences.

Can a worker be dismissed for absenteeism?

Not for justified absences: the objective dismissal ground for absences was repealed in 2020, and sick leave and legal leave cannot have consequences on employment. Documented unjustified absences can be handled under the agreement’s disciplinary regime, proportionately.

What data do I need to measure absenteeism?

Each person’s theoretical hours by calendar and contract, the hours recorded in time tracking, absences with their type and dates, and the company structure by site, team and shift. With a digital working-time record and absence management, everything exports in minutes.

What is a normal absenteeism rate?

It depends on the sector, the type of work and how it is measured, so external comparisons easily mislead. What is useful is comparing the company with itself month by month and by team, separating long sick leaves and watching the trend in unjustified absences.

Conclusion

Detecting absenteeism with data is a matter of having absences classified and the working-time record digital, calculating four simple indicators and reading them by site, team and shift, without confusing a long sick leave with a management problem or an indicator with a sanction. What the company can do with the result is organise work better and talk to people, always within what the law allows. To start with the data, try LapsoWork free for 30 days.