Absenteeism: calculating the rate to combat this scourge more effectively

Ah... absenteeism! The bête noire of HR and personnel administration. And the least we can say is that the health crisis has exacerbated the problem, with absenteeism up 20% on the previous year.

Calculating the absenteeism rate is a good way of assessing the extent of the problem in your company. If you've never done it before, you may be wondering what types of absence to take into account, how to calculate it and, above all, how to analyse it in order to draw conclusions and put in place an action plan to reduce it.

The good news is that there's a free Excel file you can download to help you calculate this HR indicator automatically and track it throughout the year. Or is it easier to do with HRIS software? Let's find out!

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What is the absenteeism rate?

Definition

The absenteeism rate is an indicator used by the human resources department to measure and monitor employee absenteeism within the company. It shows the proportion of absentee employees in the total payroll.

➡️ But what exactly is absenteeism? Absenteeism refers to repeated absences of long duration.

More than just a simple rate, absenteeism is considered to be a genuine indicator of the social climate in a company, or an indicator of dysfunction. In fact, just as there is no smoke without fire, there is no absenteeism without a cause.

👉 Anecdote: the days with the highest absenteeism rates are Mondays and Fridays 😉

What to take into account when calculating absenteeism

The types of absence taken into account in the calculation vary from company to company. The key is to compare the N absenteeism rate with the N-1 rate. So don't change the formula along the way, or the results will be distorted.

However, it is generally accepted that planned or scheduled absences should be excluded from the calculation. This means that:

• maternity and paternity leave,
• paid leave and RTT,
• absences for training
• and strike-related absences.

Here are the "unexpected" absences that you can take into account (or not):

• short or long-term illness,
• occupational illnesses
• leave for a sick child
• accidents at work,
• unjustified absences
• poorly justified absences, etc.

What is a good absenteeism rate?

A good absenteeism rate is one that tends towards zero, but it is commonly accepted that it is under control as long as it does not exceed 5%.

If it's heading towards 10%, it's starting to give cause for concern, but nothing is irreversible and you can always do something about it by analysing the causes and tackling them at source.

How do you calculate the absenteeism rate?

Formula for calculating the absenteeism rate

Here is the formula most commonly used by companies to calculate the absenteeism rate:

This indicator can be calculated over a week, a month or a year, for example.

Example of application

Your company employs 29 people. In December 2021, with 23 theoretical working days, it recorded 7 days' absence.

(7/[23 x 29]) x 100

= 1,05 %

The absenteeism rate is therefore 1.05%.

Calculate your absenteeism rate with our Excel template

Did you dream about it? We've done it! Check out our file for monitoring and calculating absenteeism.

Each month, record absences (on a day-to-day basis or before moving on to the next month) and let our file do the calculations for you. Download it for free!

Here's a preview of the file:

You can personalise the file with the number of employees concerned and the name. Follow the instructions carefully - everything is explained! You can :

• add or remove employees ;
• fill in the absences you wish to be taken into account in the absenteeism calculation by adding a cross in front of the person concerned for each day of absence;
• see at a glance which employees are most assiduous (in green) and which are starting to drop off seriously (in red).

➡️ A dedicated tab lets you track your absenteeism rate over the year!

Tracking absenteeism: even better with software

Using an Excel file to track absenteeism is often the first reflex: free, easy to use, infinite possibilities (as long as you have an advanced level with the formulas).

However, you will quickly come up against certain limitations, because :

• you have to enter everything by hand, which is particularly time-consuming and can lead to errors;
• it's difficult to work together on an Excel file without being afraid of making a mistake and erasing your colleague's work;
• Excel is not the format that offers the greatest visibility of data, even though data is becoming increasingly important for making strategic decisions;
• you may encounter slowdowns or bugs if you have a lot of employees to keep track of, and therefore a lot of data (putting your nerves and patience to the test 🤯);
• the data is not secure, which is a problem if it is confidential;
• it lacks context, as you can only track this indicator without comparing it to other HR indicators.

By using software, you make life easier and can go much further in your analysis!

🛠 GrafiQ software, from publisher QuickMS, is an online social management solution that helps VSEs, SMEs and SMIs to manage and automate their human resources. Its mission is to get your data talking, by automatically calculating over 1,000 indicators and customising dashboards. In addition to the absenteeism rate, you can, for example, track absences by reason, analyse the costs involved, or use other indicators in addition, such as the frequency rate of accidents at work.

Why measure and analyse absenteeism?

Here are a few good reasons to monitor absenteeism:

• Absenteeism costs companies a lot of money. According to calculations by the Sapiens Institute, absenteeism costs France €108 billion a year, including €60 billion in direct costs. This represents a cost of more than 4,000 euros per employee per year.

➡️ Keeping track of absenteeism rates can reduce the loss of revenue .

• Avoid the negative domino effect on other parts of the company: delays in projects, increased workloads for other employees, etc. If absenteeism becomes too prevalent, it can have truly harmful consequences and weaken the company.

➡️ Tracking the absenteeism rate helps to control the collateral damage .

• Absenteeism can be avoided in a number of cases, so it is important to identify the causes so that action can be taken at the root of the problem. Here are the main causes of absenteeism:
• the working environment (insecurity, noise, heat, etc.),
• management style (unclear objectives, lack of vision or strategy, etc.),
• the working atmosphere (poor relations between colleagues, a tyrannical manager, too heavy a workload, etc.).

➡️ Tracking the absenteeism rate helps you to understand the triggers of absenteeism so that you can find effective solutions to reduce it .

While you are certainly not responsible for all your employees' problems, there are a good number of causes that you can act on (as we saw earlier). That's why it's important to carry out an in-depth analysis to identify these causes and take action.

The rate of absenteeism is a good indicator to analyse over time to check that the measures put in place are having a tangible effect on the rate. Your objective? To bring it down.

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Presenteeism: an enemy we don't watch out for enough

Is absenteeism on your radar? You're right, but be wary of your other equally dangerous enemy, which often lurks in the blind spot: presenteeism.

Presenteeism refers to employees who are present in the workplace but unable to carry out their duties at the usual level of productivity. This may be for psychological reasons (mental overload, lack of motivation, loss of meaning, etc.) or physical reasons. Some people do not stop to rest when they are ill, and see their situation worsen, or contaminate healthy colleagues.

Presenteeism is more common than you might think, and is generally the final stage before absenteeism. A study by Malakoff Médéric revealed that 70% of employees claim to come to work despite a proven illness. Has Covid changed things in this respect since then? Probably, which could reduce part of the problem.

Ensuring the professional well-being of your employees is therefore an effective area for improvement in the fight against absenteeism and presenteeism.