Excessive absenteeism is the phrase in every attendance policy that is never defined, and a small employer searching for what is considered excessive absenteeism is looking for the number the phrase hides. There is no general one. There is the employer's own threshold, stated as points in a window, and excessive absence is whatever crosses it. That is not an evasion: it is the only definition a write-up can cite, because a write-up that says absences were excessive without a number is an opinion. This page turns the phrase into the number, shows how a small employer sets it and works it, and points at the free attendance points calculator on this site that shows where any employee stands against it, with no account.
Excessive is the threshold, and the threshold implies a count
Under a points policy the line is the threshold. On this site's worked example an unexcused absence scores 1 point, a tardy 0.5 and a no-call 2, the threshold is 8 and the window is 12 months rolling. Excessive absenteeism is therefore eight unexcused absences in twelve months with nothing else, or four with two no-calls, or any mix that reaches 8. Stated that way it is a fact about the record rather than a judgement about the person, and it is the same fact whichever lead reads it. An employer who has not written the threshold down has a policy where excessive means whatever the last lead thought, which is the policy that fails at the write-up.
Setting the line: how many absences can one person cost the crew
The threshold is chosen by asking what one employee's absences cost the others. A crew of six where one person misses one shift in eight is a crew where the other five cover a shift a month; whether that is excessive is the employer's judgement, and the policy is where it goes. Set the threshold from the count of unexcused absences in a year the crew can carry from one person, then check what the same threshold implies for no-calls and tardies under the weights, and adjust a weight if the implied count is wrong. The attendance policy template on this site prints the threshold with the count of each event that reaches it, so the line is visible before anyone is near it.
Working it on one employee, and the reminder before the line
An employee with five unexcused absences and two tardies in the window is at 6 points on the worked example, 75% of the threshold used, 2 points of room. Two more absences cross the line; one no-call does. That is where the conversation about excessive absence belongs, at 6 as a reminder, with the number on the table, rather than at 8 as a final warning. The attendance points calculator on this site shows the total, the share of the threshold used and the event that would cross it, so the lead can say the number and the employee can check it. Most policies set the reminder at a fixed total below the threshold and the record should send it.
The absences that are never excessive, whatever the count
Some absences do not count toward the line however many there are. Leave protected under the FMLA, absences that are a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and service absences under USERRA are the ones a small crew meets; the Department of Labor's and the EEOC's pages linked below describe each. The record has to hold those at zero with the reason, so the total the lead reads is the total the policy may count. The Bureau of Labor Statistics table publishes national absence rates, for an employer who wants to see where their threshold sits against the country rather than against a template.
Questions people ask about excessive absenteeism
What is considered excessive absenteeism?
Under a points policy, whatever reaches the employer's threshold: on this site's worked example, 8 points in a rolling 12 months, which is eight unexcused absences alone or fewer with tardies and no-calls alongside. There is no general number; the policy's own threshold is the only definition a write-up can cite.
How many absences are excessive in a year?
The count the policy's threshold implies. At a threshold of 8 with an absence at 1 point, eight in twelve months; at 6, six. The employer sets it by asking how many absences from one person the rest of the crew can carry, and the free policy template prints the threshold with the count it implies.
Is excessive absenteeism grounds for a write-up?
Reaching a total the policy names is, and the write-up should cite the events, the points each scored, the total in the window and the policy paragraph. Absences the law protects are held at zero and never counted; the free points calculator shows the countable total.