Attendance Rates Up for Most Employers

Absence rates are lower this year than last for most employers, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of National Affairs, a private research and publishing company.

Absence rates (the median percent of scheduled workdays that employees aren’t in attendance) are lowest for companies of 2,500 or more employees. These large firms experienced 1 percent absence rates in the first half of this year, down from 1.3 percent during the same period last year.

In the Western United States, the 1.7 percent absence rates are higher than the 1.4 percent figure in the Northeast. Manufacturing companies, at 1.4 percent, have lower absence rates than in health-care companies, at 1.9 percent.

More on attendance is available online, including the article “Sickened by the Cost of Absenteeism,” as well as absenteeism formulas and information on dealing with attendance problems in call centers.