What is the Bradford Factor?

The Bradford Factor (or Bradford Score) is a used by HR Teams to measure employee absenteeism.

It is a rough guide which was developed to highlight the level of disruption on an organisation's performance that can be caused by short-term absence compared to single instances of prolonged absence.

It was originally designed to be a part of an overall investigation, as if it is the only deciding factor or very low trigger scores are set, it will be unlikely to be successful and could lead to staff disaffection and grievances.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Factor)

The Bradford Factor can be automatically calculated within the system by using the following formula:

Total number of instances times by the total number of instances, and then times by total duration of all instances together.

Some examples:

• 1 instance of absence with a duration of ten days (1 x 1 x 10) = 10 points

• 3 instances of absence; one of one, one of three and one of six days (3 x 3 x 10) = 90 points

• 5 instances of absence; each of two days (5 x 5 x 10) = 250 points

• 10 instances of absence; each of one day (10 x 10 x 10) = 1000 points

Absence Types with a Code of Sickness with Add to Occasions ticked are included in the calculation.

Automatic alerts can be triggered when certain thresholds are met, please speak to Support to get this set up for you. Alternatively, if you do not use the Bradford Factor, Support can hide these fields for you.