The Bradford Factor: What is it and how does it work?

If you’ve worked in the NHS for any length of time, you’ll probably have heard about the Bradford Factor – but do you know how it works?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Practice Index

It’s a simple formula that allows employers to monitor short-term sickness absence, and it’s an important tool in the absence management arsenal. It’s a weighted system as regular short absences tend to be harder to manage operationally than a longer spell of absence.

It’s vital to have a sound Absence Management policy as this can save you time, effort and trouble when it comes to managing absences.

You might want to consider trigger points as part of your absence management approach, and the Bradford Factor can assist with this. The Bradford Factor can be helpful in identifying patterns of absence that might be a cause for concern. While no one metric is ever able to give a complete picture, it’s helpful for understanding, at a glance, what the pattern of absence looks like for a particular individual.

The Bradford Factor is especially useful at drawing comparisons between longer-term absence and repeated short-term patterns, which, as mentioned previously, are more likely to be disruptive.

To investigate the likely impact of a given absence pattern, the Bradford Factor takes the number of instances of absence and squares it, and then multiplies this by the number of affected days. This helps us to see in numerical terms the increased impact of short-term absence.

The formula for the Bradford Factor is:

S² x D  where:

S is the number of instances or “spells” of absence, and

D is the total number of days’ absence.

Let’s look at an example:

Mr B has had four two-day absences, with a total of eight days’ sickness.

Ms T has had one eight-day absence.

Mr B’s Bradford Factor would be 4 x 4 x 8 = 128

Ms T’s Bradford Factor would be 1 x 1 x 8 = 8

So, while both employees would have had the same total number of days absent from work, Mr B’s pattern of absence gives a greater score.

Let’s take it a step further:

Mr B has now had four two-day absences and another eight one-day absences giving a total of sixteen days absent from work.

Ms T has been unwell for sixteen consecutive working days and has now returned to work.

Mr B’s Bradford Factor calculation would now be 12 x 12 x 16 = 2,304

Ms T’s Bradford Factor would be 1 x 1 x 16 = 16

While the number of days’ absence is the same in total, the impact of the repeated absence is obvious.

Using the Bradford Factor in isolation might not give you the full picture, because in this instance, Mr B may have a serious ongoing illness, which he manages well, and feels he wants to attend work when he’s able.

But, used appropriately, as part of your absence management approach, the Braford Factor can help you to identify easily any concerning patterns of absence.