Staff Sickness Absence Rate
Average number of working days lost per employee due to sickness, indicating workforce wellbeing
What is Staff Sickness Absence Rate?
Staff sickness absence rate is the average number of sick days taken per employee in a period. It shows how much working time is lost to illness.
Sickness absence costs money in lost productivity and cover, and can signal wellbeing problems in the workplace.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Human Resources
- Sub-function
- Wellbeing
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- People
- Unit
- days
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly / Quarterly
- Formula
- Total sick days taken / Average headcount
How to calculate it
Divide total sick days taken by average headcount.
For example, if employees took 5,400 sick days over a year and average headcount was 600, the rate is 9 days per employee.
Split into short-term and long-term absence and by team, since the causes and best responses differ.
Where it is used
Managing absence cost
Track lost time.
Finding wellbeing issues
Spot teams under strain.
Planning cover
Estimate staffing needs.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Handle health data sensitively and lawfully.
- Look at long-term absence separately.
- Do not punish people for being genuinely ill.
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