Pod Lot

• HR Software
• Human Resources Software
• Workforce Management Software
• Absence Reporting
• Payroll Software
• HR Outsourcing
• HR System
• Absence Management Software
• Business Continuity Planning
• Expense Management Software

Employee sickness absence costs UK businesses millions of pounds every year; yet not all organisations have a firm grip on how often their employees take sick days and for how long at a time. A recent CIPD survey estimated that the average cost of sickness per employee per year is £666; organisations of any size and industry should be addressing this issue as soon as possible.

One method that can be used is the application of the ‘Bradford Factor’ (BF) formula. The BF formula is a means of measuring employee absenteeism that takes into account how disruptive the absence is to the organisation in question. Frequent unplanned absences are typically more disruptive to an organisation that long-term absences, as they don’t provide the organisation with any time to re-plan, re-schedule and re-distribute work amongst other employees. Therefore the BF formula places more weight on these kinds of absences.

The Formula Explained

B = S^² x D

B represents the Employee’s Bradford Factor Score.
S represents the number of continuous instances of absence in the previous rolling year.
D represents the total number of days of absence in the previous rolling year.

Therefore if we use the example of an employee who is absent 5 times throughout the rolling absence year, for a total period of 8 days (e.g. 4 absences of 1 day & 1 of 4 days), their Bradford Factor score will be thus:

B = 5^² x (1+1+1+1+4)
B = 5^² x 8
B = 200

Application of the Bradford Factor Score

The Bradford Factor score therefore provides the organisation using it with a measurable means of ’scoring’ the severity of an employee’s absence patterns. Typically for speed and visibility of this information, organisations will then make use of the reporting features in their HR software system to derive company-wide reporting of these statistics on all employees.

The human resources department can then determine a level of acceptable absence to the organisation based upon typical averages. Using management information reporting, those employees who exceed acceptable levels of absence (scoring high on the Bradford Factor scale) can be flagged up and addressed through meetings with HR and line management. Modern HR systems can automatically alert HR when pre-defined levels are exceeded.

The implementation of the Bradford Factor formula can also simply act as a deterrent to those employees who think that taking a high level of individual days may go unnoticed versus an employee who takes long-term sickness. However, the number of days is unimportant against the disruption it causes.

Computers In Personnel Ltd
28-30 Chapel St
Marlow, SL7 1DD
0870 366 2345