Absence Rate
Percentage of scheduled working days lost to all unplanned absences (sickness, personal, mental health)
What is Absence Rate?
Absence rate is the percentage of scheduled working days lost to unplanned absence. It shows how much working time is lost when people are unexpectedly away.
Absence affects productivity, cover costs and colleagues' workload, and can also signal problems with wellbeing or workplace culture.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Human Resources
- Sub-function
- Wellbeing
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- People
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly / Quarterly
- Formula
- (Total unplanned absence days / Total scheduled working days) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide total unplanned absence days by total scheduled working days, and multiply by 100.
For example, if employees were absent unexpectedly for 1,200 days out of 40,000 scheduled days, the rate is 3%.
Split by team, reason and short versus long-term absence, since the causes and responses differ.
Where it is used
Managing productivity
Track lost time.
Spotting wellbeing issues
Find teams with high absence.
Planning cover
Estimate staffing needs.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Handle health information sensitively and lawfully.
- Look at patterns, not just the number.
- Compare with your sector.
More Human Resources kpi library
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