Absence Percentage Calculator

The absenteeism rate indicates the percentage of actual time not worked relative to planned working hours. It allows for easy comparison between different months, classes or teams as it converts the original size "number of days absent" into a standardized figure.

This calculator will show you the absenteeism rate, corresponding attendance rate and actual hours worked when you input the number of absences and planned attendance. In team mode, you can calculate planned attendance based on the number of employees. This is a common method used to calculate employee absenteeism rates. If you set a target attendance rate, you will also be able to see how many more days an employee can miss without falling below that rate.

What is the absenteeism rate?

The absenteeism rate is calculated by dividing the time missed by the total number of hours scheduled to work and expressing the result as a percentage. A value of 5 percent means that an employee has been absent one day out of 20 days scheduled to work.

Because the absence rate is a ratio, its meaning remains the same regardless of the size of the data set. An absence rate of 5% can be used for both an individual student's situation over one semester and a company with 500 employees over a year, making it suitable for comparisons and continuous monitoring.

Formula for calculating the absenteeism rate:

To calculate the individual total, divide the number of days absent by the total number of days and multiply it by 100:

For the calculation for the whole team, planned working hours is the sum of the number of employees multiplied by the average number of work days per employee during the period in question:

A company has 180 employees and for the month of March each employee is scheduled to work a total of 22 days. There were a total of 275 absences. The planned total hours worked would be 180 times 22, which equals 3960. So the absenteeism rate is 275 divided by 3960, which is approximately .0694 or 6.94%.

The attendance rate is another aspect of the failure rate.

Because the attendance rate is 100 percent minus the error rate, the two values always add up to 100 percent. If the error rate is 6.94 percent, then the attendance rate is 93.06 percent.

You can also calculate the attendance rate directly from the number of actual working days by dividing it by the total number of days. Both methods will give you the same result.

Under what circumstances is a day considered as being absent?

Absences generally refer to unplanned absences. This includes things like sick days, unexcused tardiness or personal emergencies. Planned vacations and statutory holidays are not usually included in the absenteeism rate. Weekends and public holidays are also subtracted from planned working days when calculating the absenteeism rate.

It is important to clearly define the criteria for recording in advance to ensure accuracy and reliability of results. If authorized leave is counted as absences, this can lead to a higher absence rate which may make the team's performance appear worse than it actually is.

What is a good absenteeism rate?

As the specific conditions vary there are no universal targets that apply to every situation. The following table shows some typical guidelines for a workplace:

In schools this is usually looked at from an attendance perspective. A common goal is to have a minimum of 90 percent attendance. If absences are more than 10 percent of the expected days, they will generally be considered chronic.

How many days can you miss at most?

When looked at from another perspective, the question can become a useful planning tool. If you are aiming for a higher attendance rate than your goal, then the maximum number of days that you can be absent is the product of the total planned working days and the percentage allowed to be absent.

In a school year with 200 scheduled days and an attendance goal of 90 percent, the result is 200 times .10. So you can miss up to 20 days before your attendance falls below your goal. When you set a goal in a calculator tool, this result will be calculated for you.

List of input parameters:

This calculator is for general planning and educational purposes only. Attendance policies, excused absences, grading scales, etc., may vary from school to school or employer to employer. Please check with your specific institution if you need to make important decisions.