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HR Glossary

Absenteeism

HR metrics
What is absenteeism?

Absenteeism is the pattern of unplanned absence from work, beyond approved leave taken as intended. It is usually measured as unplanned absence days per employee per year, or as lost time against total scheduled hours.

How is absenteeism measured?

Two standard forms: unplanned absence days per employee per year (a common Australian planning figure is around nine), and the lost time rate, absence days as a percentage of scheduled working days, using 261 working days as the annual base. Measure unplanned absence separately from planned leave; annual leave taken as intended is a feature, not a cost.

What does absenteeism actually cost?

Direct cost first: a day's absence costs roughly the daily salary in lost output, before cover and overtime are added. At 100 employees averaging nine unplanned days, that is 900 lost days a year, several full-time equivalents of capacity. The indirect costs (disrupted teams, missed deadlines, supervisor time spent re-rostering) usually exceed the direct ones but never appear on a report.

Reading absence as a signal

Absence is behaviour, and behaviour has causes. Clusters under one manager, spikes after restructures and Monday/Friday patterns are not random; they are engagement, workload and psychosocial-hazard information arriving through the payroll system. Treat rising absence as a symptom to investigate, not a discipline problem to suppress, because suppressing it usually converts absence into presenteeism, which costs more.

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Bradford factor

The Bradford factor is an absence scoring formula (spells squared, multiplied by total days: S x S x D) that weights frequent short absences more heavily than single long ones, on the basis that unplanned short absences are more disruptive.

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Presenteeism

Presenteeism is being at work while unwell, exhausted or disengaged and producing well below normal capacity.

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Psychosocial hazards

Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work design, management or workplace interactions that can cause psychological harm, such as excessive job demands, low support or bullying.

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All terms

Every definition, with the local rules, rates and thresholds attached.

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Where
Compono Engage fits.

Compono Engage is an employee engagement platform that reads culture and climate alongside work personality, team by team.

Absence data is one of the earliest honest signals a workforce gives you.

See how it works
Compono Engage
8%+
reduction in turnover

Common questions

What is an acceptable absence rate?

Around a 3-4% lost time rate is a common working range, but industry, workforce age and the nature of the work move it. Trend and clustering are more informative than the absolute level.

Is all absence a problem?

No. People get sick, and personal/carer's leave exists to be used. The signal is in unplanned patterns and change over time, not in individual legitimate absences.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with the official source for your jurisdiction or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.