Draft reference — content review pending
Employee Absence Rate
The percentage of scheduled work time or scheduled workdays lost to absence under a defined attendance policy.
Business question
What share of scheduled work time was lost to absence during the period?
Formula
Employee absence rate = (scheduled work time or scheduled workdays lost to included absence ÷ scheduled work time or workdays) × 100.
Calculation notes
Choose hours or days and use the same basis in numerator and denominator. Define whether approved leave, planned leave, and partial-day absence are included.
Edge-case guidance
If no work time was scheduled, report the measure as not available. Keep medical or personal details out of the KPI data and report only the aggregate needed for planning.
Required data
| Input | Type | Status | Available source hints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled time lost to included absenceScheduled hours or days lost under the agreed absence policy. | Duration | Required | Excel · Google Sheets · Manual records |
| Scheduled work timeTotal scheduled hours or days for the same employee population and period. | Duration | Required | Excel · Google Sheets · Manual records |
Interpretation
Use the measure to identify workforce availability pressure and review it with workload, staffing, seasonality, and service outcomes.
Caution
Absence patterns can be seasonal or role-specific, and aggregated data should not be used to infer private medical or personal details.
Implementation recommendation
Agree on the attendance policy and time basis, then review aggregate absence with staffing coverage and workload rather than individual surveillance.
Target guidance
Set the first target from a comparable historical baseline for employee absence rate, then adjust it for strategy, capacity, seasonality, data quality, and relevant market or regulatory context. Review the direction with the accountable business owner rather than treating any external benchmark as universal.