CIPD - Absence measurement and management

HR practice

Revised April 2009

This factsheet gives introductory guidance. It:

highlights some of the main causes of absence
provides practical information on managing sickness absence effectively
outlines the implications of legislation affecting absence
includes the CIPD viewpoint.

Employee absence is a significant cost to 90% of businesses according to research from the CIPD. Our latest employee absence survey reveals that on average sickness absence costs employers £666 per employee every year and employee absence costs employers 8 working days for every member of staff per year; this represents 3.5% of working time.

Go to our most recent absence survey

Types of absence

There are many reasons why people take time off work. These can be categorised as:

short-term sickness absence (uncertificated, self-certificated or covered by a doctor’s certificate)
long-term sickness absence
unauthorised absence or persistent lateness
other authorised absences eg annual leave; maternity, paternity, adoption, or parental leave; time off for public or trade union duties, or to care for dependents; compassionate leave; educational leave.

This factsheet focuses on sickness absence issues.

Why measure absence?

A key element of managing absence effectively is accurate measurement and monitoring. An organisation must assess if it has a problem with absence, its extent and the best way to tackle it. In the latest CIPD absence survey, fewer than half of employers monitor the cost of absence, only half of organisations have set a target for reducing absence and just 39% of organisations benchmark themselves against other employers.

Employers should collect and use data to identify particular patterns of absence and underlying causes, for example, the management style of a particular manager or an increase in workloads. It can also provide the board with evidence of how absence impacts on the bottom line and why it is worth investing in an effective absence management programme.

How to measure time lost

There are a number of measures that can be used to assess absence, each of which gives information about different aspects of absence.

‘Lost time’ rate

This measure expresses the percentage of total time available which has been lost due to absence:

Total absence (hours or days) in the period x 100
Possible total (hours or days) in the period

For example, if the total absence in the period is 124 person-hours and the total time available is 1,550 person-hours, the lost time rate is:

124 x 100 = 8 %
1,550

It can be calculated separately for individual departments of groups of employees to reveal particular absence problems.

Frequency rate

The method shows the average number of absences per employee, expressed as a percentage. It does not give any indication of the length of each absence period, nor any indication of employees who take more than one spell of absence:

No of spells of absence in the period x 100
No of employees

For example, if in one month and organisation employed on average 80 workers, and during this time there were a total of 16 spells of absence, the frequency rate is:

16 x 100 = 20%
80

By counting the number of employees who take at least one spell of absence in the period, rather than to total number of spells of absence, this calculation gives an individual frequency rate.

Bradford Factor

The Bradford Factor identifies persistent short-term absence for individuals, by measuring the number of spells of absence, and is therefore a useful measure of the disruption caused by this type of absence. It is calculated using the formula:

S x S x D S = number of spells of absence in 52 weeks taken by an individual
D = number of days of absence in 52 weeks taken by that individual

For example:
10 one-day absences: 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000
1 ten-day absence: 1 x 1 x 10 = 10

5 two-day absences: 5 x 5 x 10 = 250
2 five-day absences: 2 x 2 x 10 = 40

The trigger points will differ between organisations. As for all unauthorised absence, the underlying causes will need to be identified.

What causes absence?

The main causes of sickness absence for manual and non-manual employees have been identified as:

Manual	Non-Manual
Minor illness*	Minor illness*
Back pain	Stress
Musculo-skeletal injuries	Musculo-skeletal injuries
Home/family responsibilities	Back pain
Stress	Home/family responsibilities
Recurring medical conditions	Recurring medical conditions
Injuries/accidents not related to work	Other absences not related to ill-health

*Minor illness includes colds, flu, stomach upsets and headaches.

The number of employers reporting an increase in stress-related absence continues to rise according to our latest absence survey, with 32% of respondents reporting an increase in stress-related absence in the previous 12 months. See our factsheet on handling stress in the workplace for more information on this issue. It is too early to understand fully the effect of the current recession on health and absence issues. In a recession, on the one hand employees who are anxious to retain their jobs tend to take less short term absences. However, following redundancies employers tend not to replace staff who depart. This can increase colleagues’ workloads and stress which in turn can increase sickness related absence.

View our factsheet on Stress at work

What absence policies need to contain

The first step to managing absence effectively is to ensure that you have a clear policy in place that supports your organisation’s business objectives and culture. Legislation requires employers to provide staff with information on ‘any terms and conditions relating to incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay’.

Effective absence policies must spell out employees’ rights and obligations when taking time off from work due to sickness. The policy should:

provide details of contractual sick pay terms and its relationship with statutory sick pay
outline the process employees must follow if taking time off sick – covering when and whom employees should notify if they are not able to attend work
include when (after how many days) employees need a self-certificate form
contain when they require a medical certificate (sick-note) from their doctor to certify their absence
mention that the organisation reserves the right to require employees to attend an examination by a company doctor and (with the worker’s consent) to request a report from the employee’s doctor
include provisions for return-to-work interviews as these have been identified as the most effective intervention to manage short-term absence.

Managing short-term absence

Absence interventions

Effective interventions in managing short-term absence include:

a proactive absence management policy
return-to-work interviews
disciplinary procedures for unacceptable absence levels
use of trigger mechanisms such as the Bradford Factor to review attendance
involving trained line managers in absence management
providing sickness absence information to line managers
restricting sick pay
involving occupational health professionals.

Return-to-work interviews can help identify short-term absence problems at an early stage. They also provide managers with an opportunity to start a dialogue with staff over underlying issues, which might be causing the absence.

The use of disciplinary procedures for unacceptable absence may be used to make it clear to employees that unjustified absence will not be tolerated and that absence policies will be enforced.

Only 15% of organisations use attendance incentives or bonuses as a tool of absence management according to our latest absence survey.

Involving line managers

Line managers have an important role to play, either directly or indirectly, in the interventions to reduce absence levels. Managers need good communications skills to encourage employees to discuss any problems they may have at an early stage so that employees can be given support or advice before matters escalate. But despite the importance placed on line manager/supervisor involvement, only just over 50% of organisations train their line managers in the skills needed to do this effectively!

Line managers need to be trained in:

the organisation’s absence policies and procedures
their role in the absence management programme
legal and disciplinary aspects of absence including potential disability discrimination issues
maintaining absence record-keeping and understanding facts and figures on absence
role of occupational health services services and proactive measures to support staff health and wellbeing
operation (where applicable) of trigger points
development of return-to-work interview skills
development of counselling skills.

Managing long-term absence

CIPD research shows that absence of eight days or more accounts for almost 40% of total time lost through absence and absence of four weeks or more accounts for about one fifth. Consequently it is vital organisations have a formal strategy in place to help employees to get back to work after a prolonged spell of sickness or injury-related absence. Awareness of potential disability discrimination claims is also crucial.

The role of the line manager is also crucial in managing long-term absence but other interventions are also important. These include:

occupational health involvement and proactive measures to support staff health and wellbeing
line management involvement as part of the absence management programme
restricting sick pay
changes to work patterns or environment
return-to-work interviews
rehabilitation programme.

There are four typical elements in the recovery and return-to-work process.

Keeping in contact with sick employees - ensure contact is maintained on a regular basis using a sensitive and non-intrusive approach. The form of this contact should be agreed with the member of staff and manager and, where appropriate, the union or employee representative.
Planning and undertaking workplace controls or adjustments - some obstacles may hinder an employee’s return to work. A risk assessment can identify measures or adjustments to help workers return and stay in work. Examples may include:
- allowing a gradual return-to-work, eg building up from part-time to full-time over a period of weeks
- changing work patterns or management style to reduce pressure and give the employee more control
- altering the employees working hours, eg allowing flexi-working to accommodate family demands
- accommodating the employee's mobility.
Using professional advice and treatment - occupational health professionals should be able to play a major role in evaluating the reason for absence, carrying out health assessments, and assisting HR professionals and managers in planning a return to work. For more information see our factsheet on occupational health.
- Go to our factsheet on Occupational health
Planning and co-ordinating a return-to-work plan - a return to work plan must be agreed by the employee and the line manager, and any other staff likely to be affected. The plan needs to include:
- the goals, such as modified working hours, or a modified job role
- the time period
- a statement about the new working arrangements
- the checks that will need to be made to make sure the plan is put into practice
- the dates when the plan will be reviewed by the employee and the line manager.

It may be helpful to appoint someone to co-ordinate the return-to-work process. This may include keeping colleagues of the absent employee informed of progress, so that all understand the situation, as well as easing the transition back to work and maintaining working relationships.

The legal position

Used properly, the Acas code on discipline and grievance as referred to in the Employment Act 2008 provides the main tools for facilitating absence management– see our factsheet on discipline and grievances in the workplace for more information.

View our Discipline and grievances at work factsheet

Numerous other pieces of legislation have an impact on absence management. Some important examples include:

Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Employment Rights Act 1996 as amended
Employment Rights Dispute Resolution Act 1998
Employment Relations Act 1999.

CIPD members can find out more on the legal aspects from our FAQ on Absence management in the Employment Law at Work area of our website.

Go to our Absence management FAQ

Data protection

Employers must be careful not to breach the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) when they collect, use and store information about their employees’ absence. Details of an employee’s health, either physical or mental, are categorised as ‘sensitive personal data’ under the DPA. The DPA also requires openness. Staff should know what information about their health is being collected and why. The Office of the Information Commissioner has issued guidance on employers’ responsibilities - for further information see our factsheet on data protection.

View the factsheet on Data protection

Disability discrimination

The management of employees who become disabled as a result of sickness may mean employers have to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ as dictated by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) before they can return to their job. The types of adjustments that employers might be required to consider include:

making physical adjustments to the workplace
allocating some of the disabled person’s duties to another person
transferring the disabled person to another vacant post, with or without reasonable adjustments being made
altering the disabled person’s working hours through, for example, part-time working, job sharing or other flexible hours arrangements
providing special equipment to assist the disabled person to perform his or her tasks, and giving training in the use of the equipment.

The DDA covers physical and mental impairments which have a long-term adverse effect on employees' ability to carry out normal-day-to day activities. Conditions such as stress will often be covered under the DDA. For more information see our factsheet on disability in the workplace.

View our factsheet on Disability and employment

Absence and pregnancy

Employers should record pregnancy-related sickness absence separately from other sickness absences. Employers have no obligation to provide different sick-pay provision for women who take time off work for reasons related to their pregnancy. However an employer who includes absence related to pregnancy in any assessment of a worker’s sickness record, for example in a redundancy exercise or for disciplinary reasons, will be vulnerable to a claim of sex discrimination. An employee who is absent due to a pregnancy-related illness during the four weeks period prior to her due date can be required to start her maternity leave early, and will be entitled to maternity pay and not sick pay.

CIPD viewpoint

Effective people management policies are needed to encourage employee motivation and commitment and reduce absence. Employees need well-defined job roles, challenging but realistic targets, and support and training to help them achieve these targets.

Our research reveals that some of the most successful tools in reducing employee absence are an early intervention by line managers and good communication. A large part of managing absence is about ensuring staff can raise issues that may be troubling them at an early stage so that they can be addressed before they escalate. Effective absence management is also about creating work environments where employees are less likely to wake up and think ‘I don’t feel like going in to work today’.