What Is Absenteeism?

Absenteeism is the habitual or frequent failure of an employee to attend work without a valid reason.

Showing up for work is pretty much step one. Yes, absences happen, but when you've got someone calling in every other week for six months, that's a different matter.

Absenteeism goes beyond occasional, legitimate absences, like approved leave, illness, or emergencies, and refers to a pattern of unplanned or excessive time off.

Absence rate is a key workforce management metric, and a higher-than-normal rate at your organization can negatively impact your productivity, costs, and organizational efficiency. Accurately tracking employees' absences can give you insight into why your team is calling off work and also help with calculating severance pay in the event of a termination.

Do you have an absenteeism problem?

There's no way to know for sure unless your human resources team is tracking it. Human resource information systems (HRIS) and payroll systems can monitor employee attendance records, and some systems automatically calculate the absence rate at your organization.

To figure out the absence rate for an individual employee, a team, or your entire organization, divide the number of absences by the total number of workdays for your country, then multiply the quotient by 100. You can calculate the absence rate for whatever interval is of interest to you: annually is the most common, but you can use the data to drill deeper into absence rates by month, season, or quarter. Don't forget to account for public holidays (if your org observes them) and paid time off.

Note: An employee's absence rate will often affect their severance, so you want to make sure you're tracking it from Day 1.

Causes of absenteeism

Absenteeism is a universal challenge for global employers, spanning industries, borders, and work styles. To tackle absenteeism, you must look at the entire situation, from personal factors like illness to external hurdles like unreliable transportation.

Don't forget to turn the mirror on yourself: Are your employees disengaged due to workplace issues, like poor management or uncompetitive compensation?

Personal factors

Personal factors are a major driver of absenteeism at work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national absence rate among full-time American workers was 3.2%, with the most common reason for missing work being injury or illness (ranging from chronic health conditions to the common cold).

Mental health issues also drive absenteeism. Per the World Health Organization, "Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$1 trillion per year in lost productivity."

In case it's hard to visualize what 12 billion missed workdays looks like, Gallup broke it down. They found that those with fair to poor mental health missed 11.8 days of work per year due for mental health reasons. Even those who ranked their mental health as excellent, very good, or good still called out from work 2.5 days of work per year due to anxiety, depression, or another mental health concern.

Family responsibilities also play a big role. Employees may need to miss work to care for a sick relative, handle emergencies, or support children and elders. One study of unpaid caregivers of elderly relatives revealed that caregiving reduces their on-the-job productivity by one-third.

Workplace factors

Low morale, disengagement, and burnout are key workplace factors that can drive absenteeism. When employees aren't engaged at work-that is, when they feel undervalued, overworked, or disconnected from their roles-they're much more likely to skip work, leading to a drop in productivity and team spirit.

Other common workplace factors include:

• Managers. They play a huge role in employee engagement. Per Gallup, about 70% of employee engagement is directly related to their manager's effectiveness (or lack thereof). And remember, lack of employee engagement leads to absenteeism.
• Lack of flexibility. Absenteeism often spikes when employees lack flexibility in how or when they work. Rigid schedules make it tough for people to handle personal responsibilities, unexpected events, or health needs, leading them to miss work altogether (and look for jobs that can accommodate the real lives they lead).
• Unsafe working conditions. Why come to work if you have a reasonable expectation that your working conditions will be unsafe ? If an environment feels hazardous, whether due to poor equipment, exposure to harmful substances, or lack of safety protocols, employees may choose to stay home rather than face potential injury or illness. 

External factors

External factors outside the workplace can have a major impact on absenteeism. Commuting challenges, like unreliable public transportation, long commutes, or weather-related disruptions, make it difficult for employees to get to work consistently.

When life circumstances create barriers that employees can't easily overcome, absenteeism rises. Smart employers recognize these external pressures and offer support where possible.

How absenteeism impacts employers

When employees miss work often, the impact ripples across productivity, payroll, and team morale.

Here are the main outcomes of absenteeism on you and your organization:

• Productivity loss. Repeated absenteeism reduces expected output, disrupts established workflows, and increases the burden on employees that do show up to work.
• Increased costs and unhappy customers. Employers may need to pay overtime wages to otherstaff in order to meet obligations or even hire temporary workers. Absent employees may cause projects to fall behind schedule, leading to missed deadlines or customer dissatisfaction.
• Employee morale. Teams may become disengaged (and, therefore, less productive) if absenteeism is left unchecked.
• Compliance impact. Failure to track absences properly can cause payroll miscalculations, which may affect severance and other calculations.
• Retention risk. High absenteeism may indicate disengagement, burnout, or poor management practices or hazardous working conditions that could prompt employees to look for other jobs.

5 ways to address absenteeism in the workplace

The best approach to absenteeism combines clear expectations on the one hand with real support on the other. That way, employees know what's expected and feel equipped to meet those standards.

These strategies help you tackle absenteeism at its root while boosting engagement across your teams. Here are five practical ways to address absenteeism and create a healthier, more productive workplace.

1. Write clear policies. Don't leave room for confusion. Define what constitutes an acceptable absence, absence reporting procedures, and consequences for noncompliance.
2. Train managers. Equip leaders to identify and address absenteeism among employees before it becomes a problem. Seventy percent of employee disengagement is related to manager ineffectiveness. Depending on what is causing absenteeism at your organization, a big part of reducing it may be training your managers to be better people leaders.
3. Support employees. Offer wellness programs, flexible scheduling, and mental health resources. Think outside the box about how you can improve your employees' overall well-being. For example, if reliable transportation is a consistent problem for employees, you could offer public transit vouchers or rideshare coupons.
4. Create recognition programs. Encourage engagement and consistent attendance. It's a delicate balance, though, as you want your employees to stay home and recuperate if they are sick, burnout, or otherwise unable to work.
5. Use corrective action. Assign performance improvement plans (PIPs) to employees when their absenteeism becomes excessive.

Absenteeism's connection to severance pay

When an employee leaves your company, severance is often tied to factors like tenure, unused leave balances, and attendance records. So, if absenteeism data isn't properly documented, you risk miscalculating what you owe in severance, which could lead to underpayments or overpayments-neither good.

In addition, miscalculating leave balances or attendance records can result in legal disputes during termination. Inaccurate recordkeeping opens the door to compliance violations, wrongful termination claims, and costly litigation.

Ready to bring the fight to absenteeism?

Absenteeism happens-that's a fact. To figure out why and to fight it, you need data, and lots of it.

Pebl can help.

Our HR technology seamlessly integrates with your existing systems, giving you instant visibility into absence trends, so you can take action against absenteeism, reward attendance, and keep payroll accurate in over 185+ countries worldwide.

Ready to streamline absence tracking? Discover how Pebl can help you do it right. Schedule a call with an expert today.

Disclaimer: This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or tax advice and is for general informational purposes only. The intent of this document is solely to provide general and preliminary information for private use. Do not rely on it as an alternative to legal, financial, taxation, or accountancy advice from an appropriately qualified professional. The content in this guide is provided "as is," and no representations are made that the content is error-free.

© 2025 Pebl, LLC. All rights reserved.