Absenteeism Rate: Formula and 2025 BLS Benchmarks

Absenteeism rate = (unplanned days or hours absent ÷ total scheduled days or hours) × 100. If 50 employees were each scheduled for 21 workdays in a month (1,050 days) and 18 days were lost to unplanned absence, the absenteeism rate is 18 ÷ 1,050 × 100 = 1.7%. The US benchmark: in 2025, BLS measured a lost worktime rate of 1.7% for full-time employees, and 3.2% of them were absent in a typical week. Below: the formula in days and hours, what to count, industry benchmarks and how to lower the rate without breaking leave law.

The absenteeism rate formula

Use days when everyone works standard shifts. Use hours when shifts vary in length or part-time staff are included.

Worked example (hours)

The days version would miscount this team, because a missed 10-hour shift costs 25% more time than a missed 8-hour shift. On mixed schedules like 4-10 or rotating shifts, use hours.

What counts as an absence

Track legally protected leave, such as FMLA leave or state paid sick leave, in its own column. You need it for planning, but it can't count against an employee. FMLA regulations bar employers from counting FMLA leave under no-fault attendance policies or using it as a negative factor in employment decisions (29 CFR 825.220(c)). Many state and city paid sick leave laws have similar protections. Keep attendance points and discipline limited to the unprotected absences.

2025 absenteeism benchmarks (BLS)

The BLS Current Population Survey reports two measures for full-time wage and salary workers (BLS CPS Table 47):

• Absence rate: the share of full-time workers who worked less than 35 hours in the survey week because of their own illness, injury or medical problem, childcare problems, other family or personal obligations, civic or military duty, or maternity or paternity leave. Vacation, personal days and holidays aren't counted.
• Lost worktime rate: hours absent as a share of hours usually worked. This is closest to the absenteeism rate formula above.

Source: BLS CPS Table 47, 2025 annual averages. BLS notes that the 2025 figures average 11 months because October data weren't collected during the federal government shutdown, so they aren't strictly comparable with earlier years. About two-thirds of absences were for the worker's own illness or injury (2.2 of the 3.2 percentage points). Breakdowns by age and sex are in BLS CPS Table 46.

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations were at 3.7% absence and 2.1% lost worktime. If your rate is well above your industry's lost worktime rate for several months running, look into it. One bad flu month isn't a trend.

How to read your number

• Compare like with like. Your hours-based rate is comparable to BLS lost worktime. A headcount-based "who was out this week" figure is comparable to the BLS absence rate. BLS includes parental leave, which the formula above leaves out, so the BLS figures run slightly high as a comparison.
• Break it down. By team, manager, shift, day of week and month. Absences clustered on Mondays, Fridays and days next to holidays point to engagement or scheduling issues. Absences spread across a whole team point to workload, illness going round or a manager problem.
• Look at frequency as well as volume. Ten one-day absences disrupt a schedule more than one ten-day absence. Report the number of absence spells per employee next to days lost.
• Watch the trend. Plot the monthly rate for at least 12 months so you can see seasonal patterns before you react.

How to reduce absenteeism

1. 1Fix the schedule first. Late shift swaps, too many back-to-back closing and opening shifts, and unpredictable hours drive absence. Publishing schedules two weeks ahead and allowing shift swaps through an app gives people a legitimate alternative to calling in.
2. 2Separate sick time from vacation, or pool them clearly. Employees with no sick time left come in sick or take unpaid days. Make the rules easy to find.
3. 3Train managers on return-to-work conversations. A short, non-punitive check-in after each absence ("Are you OK to be back? Anything we should know?") picks up problems early.
4. 4Use a clear, consistent attendance policy. Define notice requirements and what counts as unexcused. Apply it the same way to everyone and exclude protected leave.
5. 5Look for workload and safety causes. High absence in one team often follows understaffing, overtime or injury risk.
6. 6Offer flexibility where the job allows it. Remote days or flexible start times let people handle appointments without taking a full day off.

Most time and attendance software calculates these rates automatically and flags patterns by team. Compare options in our workforce management software category, and see HR KPIs and metrics for the other measures to report alongside absenteeism.

Frequently asked questions