April 2009 - Using the Bradford Factor

Using the Bradford Factor to Monitor and Manage Absenteeism

The Bradford Factor calculation is gaining increasing popularity as a method of measuring employee's irregularity of attendance, and the effects of absenteeism on an organisation. It works on the premise that frequent, short spells of absence can cause more disruption to a business and result in higher costs than fewer, longer spells of absence. The calculation measures the frequency and duration of absences over a period of fifty-two weeks giving an absence score, in points, for each employee. This helps to reduce excessive absenteeism by allowing managers full visibility of employee attendance across the whole organisation and to take action when necessary.

"Where most time and attendance systems track absenteeism, the Softworks system focuses on problem areas and/or employees and enables your organisation to take proactive measures to improve attendance," says Noel Dooley, Softworks. The Softwork Attendance Management solution begins with a thorough assessment of valid, accurate data, measuring severity, (the number of hours/days lost); frequency (number of episodes); concentration (many absent occasionally or few absent frequently); a search for patterns (a particular day of the week, one or two specific departments and/or short-term absences consisting of one or two days at a time, spread throughout the year). Using an organisations individual trigger rating Bradford factor reports can be accessed from the system to identify individuals or trends allowing targeted action to be taken.

The Bradford factor is extensively used throughout the business community as a useful tool in analysing an organisations' rate of absenteeism. When used in conjunction with return to work interviews and a management policy that assesses the causes of the absence the rate can be reduced considerably.

From an employers perspective several short periods of absence are far worse than few, longer periods of absence. Solo Europe a leading food packaging manufacturer uses the Bradford Factor reporting facility of Clockwise. Their trigger point is set at 250 in dealing with cases of severe frequency of absence.

"The Softworks system is proving invaluable with the depth of information it generates," says Barry. The data produced from the system is used to support weekly meetings with line managers to discuss cases of absence, and any areas of concern. Solo Europe is also intending to extend these meetings to employees, thereby giving them ownership of their absenteeism and the effect it has on the morale of their colleagues, business in general, and reinforce their value to the company. Absence levels were extremely high three years ago, and are now down to 4% - therefore the cost of absence has been reduced considerably.