Glossary

Absence trigger — a threshold that prompts action after a set amount of absence. Safe as a prompt for a conversation; risky as an automatic consequence.

Accrual — entitlement building up with time worked, rather than being granted in full at the start of the year. The normal approach for variable hours.

Bradford Factor — a formula weighting the number of absence episodes more heavily than days lost. Widely used and structurally weighted against people with conditions causing frequent short absence.

Carry-over — unused leave moved into the next year, usually capped or time-limited, and in some circumstances legally required.

Coverage — whether enough of the right people are present for the work to run. The operational question attendance tracking exists to answer.

Fit note — medical evidence stating fitness for work and any recommended adjustments. The adjustments are the actionable part; the condition is not.

Leave year — the twelve months over which entitlement is counted. Commonly January or April, and worth stating because people assume whichever they had before.

No-show — someone who neither arrives nor reports an absence. Different from a reported absence because you do not know what has happened.

Pro-rating — scaling entitlement to hours or days worked. The source of most part-time disputes, particularly around public holidays.

Return-to-work conversation — a brief conversation after every absence, applied to everyone. The most effective absence practice available and it costs nothing.

Self-certification — an employee stating their own reason for a short absence, without medical evidence, up to a threshold set by law or policy.

Terms people use differently

"Attendance" sometimes means presence, sometimes punctuality, sometimes absence levels. These notes mean whether someone was there.

"Absence management" in vendor material usually means reducing absence. Here it means knowing about it, covering it, and paying it correctly.

"Unauthorised absence" is frequently applied to absences that were simply not yet explained, which is a different thing and worth distinguishing before a conversation goes wrong.

"Sickness" in a record should mean only that: the reason given was illness. It should not carry a judgement about whether it was genuine.

How to read these notes

Start at the beginning if you currently track nothing.

Start with leave if the disputes are about balances.

Start with coverage if the problem is shifts running short.

Start with the boundary section before introducing any scoring or monitoring.

Nothing here is legal advice, and the notes say so where it matters.

On the absence of numbers

A note on how to treat any figure in this collection.

No absence benchmarks are quoted, deliberately. They vary by sector, workforce age and whether people can afford to stay home.

No prices for products, which vary by size and negotiation.

Compare against your own previous year, which is the comparison you can act on.

And treat a very low absence figure carefully: it can mean healthy staff, or people coming in ill because they cannot afford not to.

A useful implementation prompt

During configuration, the healthcare workflow can prompt questions about fields, ownership and output. Confirm current capabilities with the provider and document every plan, integration or policy assumption behind the decision.