An absenteeism rate is one number standing for a month of roll calls: the share of scheduled shifts that were not worked. On the tracker template's worked month, a crew of ten scheduled for 200 shifts that missed 12 has an absenteeism rate of 6%, and that figure is either reassuring or alarming depending on what sits behind it. This page is about reading the number rather than computing it: what it does and does not include, why the same rate can describe two very different crews, why the per-person rate is the one that leads to a conversation, and what the rate cannot tell an employer that the points record can. The employee attendance tracker template on this site computes it from scheduled and missed shifts.
What the rate includes, and what it quietly leaves out
The rate counts scheduled shifts not worked. An unexcused absence and a no-call no-show are both a missed shift and count the same, which is the first thing the number hides: a crew with 12 absences and a crew with 12 no-calls have the same rate and very different problems, since a no-call leaves the shift uncovered until it starts. A tardy is not a missed shift, however late, and belongs in the on-time rate, so a crew that is chronically late can have a fine absenteeism rate. An excused absence is the employer's decision to hold outside the count or to count with its reason, and the policy has to say which, because a rate computed one way in March and the other in June is two numbers wearing one name.
Two crews, one rate: why the distribution matters
On the worked month eight of the ten missed one shift each, one missed none, and one missed four of their 20. The crew rate is 6%. Now imagine the same 12 missed shifts spread evenly, so every person missed one or two: the crew rate is still 6%, but there is nobody to talk to, and the conversation is about the roster or the season rather than a person. The rate on its own cannot tell those two months apart; only the per-person rate can, and on the first month it says one employee is at 20% against a crew at 6%. That is why the tracker template computes the rate per person as well as for the crew, and why an employer who reads only the crew figure will miss the month that mattered.
What moves the rate, and the two counts to watch
The rate moves when the numerator moves, missed shifts, or when the denominator moves, scheduled shifts, and an employer watching the rate alone cannot tell which happened. A month with fewer scheduled shifts because of a holiday and the same absences reads worse; a month where extra shifts were added on the day and then missed reads worse still, unless the policy settled in advance whether same-day shifts count as scheduled. The honest way to read the rate is next to its two counts, month on month, computed the same way from the roll call each time. A rate that rises from 4% to 8% with the same denominator is a real change; the same rise with a shrinking denominator may be nothing.
What the rate cannot tell you, and where the points record takes over
The rate says how much was missed. It cannot say whether any of it was excused, whether anyone is near the policy's threshold, or whether the same person was warned last month. Those are questions for the points record, which scores each event under the policy in force and keeps the total in a rolling window: on this site's worked policy an unexcused absence scores 1, a tardy 0.5 and a no-call 2 against a threshold of 8. The rate is the crew's health check and the points record is the person's file, and a small employer needs both: the first to see the month, the second to act on it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics table linked below defines absence rate and lost worktime rate for the national series, for an employer who wants to see how the definitions compare.
Questions people ask about absenteeism rate
What is a good absenteeism rate?
One that is stable month on month, computed the same way from the same two counts, with no single person far above the crew. The national series published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a reference point, but a crew's own trend says more than any benchmark.
Do tardies count in the absenteeism rate?
No. A tardy is a shift that was worked, late. It belongs in the on-time rate, which the tracker template computes alongside. A crew can have a low absenteeism rate and a poor on-time rate at the same time.
Should excused absences be in the rate?
The policy decides and the record follows it: either hold them outside the count by reducing scheduled shifts, or count them as missed with the reason attached. Either is defensible; switching between them without saying so is not.