HR & People

Absence and shift pattern analysis

Analyse absence, lateness, shift swap, and overtime patterns by team and location to identify where rota design, management practice, or workload is driving avoidable absence.

Decision supportPattern-matchingCost reductionAccuracy

10–20%

reduction in unplanned absence cost

Opportunity assessment

Business Impact
2

Minor improvement. Small efficiency gain with limited effect on overall turnover or bottom line.

Feasibility
4

Relatively straightforward. Off-the-shelf tools handle the core task. Implementation is well-understood with good examples to follow.

Data Readiness
3

Moderate data needs. Works with data most businesses hold, but will likely need consolidation, cleaning, or reformatting before use.

Risk Exposure
2

High risk. Significant external exposure or regulatory implications. Requires robust oversight and clear accountability.

Change Complexity
3

Moderate people impact. Part of someone's working day changes. Requires training and some adjustment time, but roles remain broadly the same.

Tooling required

Specialist AI tool

Things to consider

  • Analyse at team and pattern level, not individual level. Individual absence prediction is intrusive, likely to involve health data, and pushes into territory that is hard to defend to employees or a tribunal.

  • Absence is very often a symptom of rota design or management quality rather than individual behaviour. Framing the output as a management diagnostic keeps it useful and defensible.

  • Absence data frequently reveals disability-related absence, which is special category data with specific protections. Aggregate and anonymise before analysis and involve HR in the design.

  • Experiment starter: Analyse a year of absence by team, day of week, shift pattern, and manager. Take the three teams with the largest unexplained variance and investigate on the ground before drawing any conclusion.

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