Sickness absenteeism has been calculated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the professional services network, to cost UK organisations almost £30 billion a year. It seems that the UK is behind many other parts of the world when it comes to dealing with sickness absence, with an average 9.1 days off sick per year in the UK comparing to 7.3 across Western Europe as a whole, 4.9 days in the US, and just 2.2 days in the Asia Pacific region. The public sector typically suffers with higher levels of absenteeism than the private sector.

Business leaders should be acutely aware of this issue and need to take an active approach to combating absenteeism as it is a serious barrier to growth. By investing in the health and wellbeing of staff, businesses can play a decisive role in the battle against ill health and ultimately lower productivity, while also standing out from competitors as a company that truly values its employees.

To do this, businesses first need to understand their own absence trends, by monitoring and recording staff absences and having processes in place to deal with any concerns.  This is where the Bradford Factor comes into play. The Bradford Factor (or Formula) is a method of measuring staff absenteeism. Without going into the mathematical formula behind it, in a nutshell it suggests multiple short-term unplanned absences are more disruptive than one longer term planned absence of the same total duration.

Using the Bradford Factor also enables businesses to identify absence triggers, meaning that when a certain level of absenteeism is reached, whether company-wide or individually, action can be taken to address it. This would usually entail a business owner, human resources manager, or line manager, speaking with employees to identify and work through any issues they may have with the aim of improving their attendance levels at work. 

If this seems like an administrative hassle, there are many handy online systems for recording absenteeism and an online calculator to implement the Bradford Factor as one part of a wider strategy to reduce absenteeism and engage staff in healthy practices.

Read more about how you can take an active approach to support the health and wellbeing of your staff.