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The Bradford Factor

Short-term absences are often more disruptive than the long term. Use our Bradford Factor Calculator to know their effects on your business.

Bradford Factor image
· •Measure the Impact of Short Absences
· •Objectively Track Employee Absences
· •Increase Efficiency and Reduce Costs
· •Improve Fairness and Transparency

What is the Bradford Factor?

The Bradford Factor is a formula used to measure employee absenteeism. It measures the number of absence incidents and the duration of each incident to calculate the Bradford Factor score for each employee.

The higher the score, the more disruption the employee’s absence is causing an organisation.

Companies measure employee absence in several ways, including and excluding various types of absence. As a result, one company may have a higher absence rate than another because it includes more non-sickness variables when measuring.

Many companies fail to distinguish clearly between short-term and long-term absences, which can have profound implications for attendance management.

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Bradford Factor Formula

S2 x D

S = number of instances of absence of an individual over a given period
D = total number of days of absence of the individual over the same period

EXAMPLE

For employees with 10 days of absence in one year, differently distributed, the score can vary enormously:

1 instance and a total of 10 days: 1 x 1 x 10 = 10

5 instances and a total of 10 days: 5 x 5 x 10 = 250

10 instances and a total of 10 days: 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000

Using the traditional percentage method would result in the same percentage. Using this formula better shows the effects of employee absence on the organisation.

Bradford Factor and Softworks

Most time and attendance systems simply track absenteeism, while Softworks goes deeper by focusing on the frequency of absences, enabling organisations to take proactive measures and improve attendance.

In many cases, the cost and disruption of persistent, short spells of absence are greater than occasional, longer absence periods.

To address this problem, Softworks has developed a formula based on the Bradford factor, which measures the Number of Incidences and the Duration of each incidence to compute an absence score for each employee.

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