What is The Bradford Factor and Why is it on my Employees?

Bradford Factor

To better support our clients with identifying potential concerns around sickness we have implemented the ability to monitor Bradford Factors within S4labour. The Bradford Factor can be viewed when accessing employee profiles, and when reviewing the absence summary report.

What is the Bradford Factor?

The Bradford Factor is a common method of monitoring absence levels and is actively utilised across many different industries. It is a method that particularly focuses on highlighting frequent short-term periods of absence, rather than long-term periods of absence that may account for a larger number of sick days.

The Bradford Factor is calculated using the below formula:

S x S x D

S = Total number of instances of sickness

• A single instance of sickness covers the period from the first day of sickness was recorded up until the next working shift is captured following that sickness.

D = Total number of days of sickness

This is calculated over a rolling 52-week period.

The below example demonstrates how the Bradford Factor highlights frequent, short-term instances of absence over longer-term, less frequent instances of absence:

e.g. 10 days of sickness could result in the below Bradford Scores depending on how those days are taken:

1 instance = 1 x 1 x 10 = 10

2 instances = 2 x 2 x 10 = 40

5 instances = 5 x 5 x 10 = 250

Absence Summary Report:

Now users can monitor Bradford factors within the sites they have access to via the Absence Summary Report. A new column has been included within this report that presents current Bradford Score for each employee:

To quickly identify potential issues, these numbers have been colour coded in line with the below:

0 - 49 Green

50 - 100 Amber

101 + Red

The score is generated based on the last 52 weeks of data, this is a rolling 52-week reference period and can update daily.

When viewing the Absence Summary report, users can choose to enter a start / end date and the system will generate a Bradford score using data held within the selected dates only.

Employee Specific View:

Now, when accessing a team member’s profile, users can click into the HR tab to view the below section breaking down the employee’s Bradford Factor:

Just as with the Absence Summary Report, the score shown is colour coded based on severity, and is calculated using a rolling 52-week reference period.