Free template
Absenteeism tracker template
An absenteeism tracker records attendance for each person on each scheduled day, so you can see absence rates and patterns and plan cover. The Excel version uses five codes, P present, A absent (unplanned), L late, S sick and V vacation or planned leave, with days off left blank. For each person it counts the codes and works out scheduled days (P + A + L + S) and the absence rate ((A + S) ÷ scheduled days); vacation and planned leave are not counted as absence. It also counts who is present and absent each day, shades weekends, gives the absence rate by team, and has an optional Bradford factor (spells² × days absent), where a spell is one unbroken absence even across days off. The PDF has a printable monthly grid for 20 people and a summary page. The tracker records codes only, with no medical details, and should be used under your attendance policy and the privacy and labor rules where you work.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use an absenteeism tracker
- To see the absence rate for a team or department month by month.
- To spot patterns by day, shift or team that point to a cause you can fix.
- To plan cover and cross-training where absence keeps leaving stations short.
- Where attendance is kept on paper or in scattered spreadsheets today.
How to fill it in
- 1
Set up the month
Enter the first day of the month, and list each person with their team. The day headings fill in.
- 2
Enter a code each scheduled day
P, A, L, S or V. Leave days off blank, so they are not counted.
- 3
Read the totals
Scheduled days, the absence rate and, if you use it, the Bradford factor fill in for each person.
- 4
Look by team
Type the team names on the By team sheet to see the absence rate for each.
- 5
Look for causes
Patterns by day, shift or team often point to causes in the job: schedules, workload, cover.
- 6
Act, and plan cover
Agree actions with owners and dates, and cross-train where absence keeps leaving a task short.
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: one month for a 12-person shift (illustrative numbers).
- Scheduled days: 246. Absent (A): 7 days. Sick (S): 11 days. Late (L): 5.
- Absence rate: 18 ÷ 246 = 7.3%.
- Pattern: 9 of the 18 absence days fell on the Monday after a weekend overtime shift.
- Action: overtime rotated so no one works more than one weekend in three, and a second person cross-trained on the bottleneck task.
The team tracked the next three months to see whether the Monday pattern changed, and covered the bottleneck task from inside the shift.
Common mistakes
Counting vacation as absence
Planned leave is not absence. Keep it as V so it is left out of the rate.
Recording medical details
Codes only. Reasons for sickness are personal data and do not belong on the tracker.
Using a score as an automatic trigger
A number is a prompt for a conversation under your policy, not a decision on its own.
Looking only at individuals
Look at teams, shifts and days first. The causes you can fix are often in the schedule or the job.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite, when an operator calls out you open the Job Cover Matrix, pick the job and see everyone qualified to cover it, filtered by shift, department or proficiency.
FAQ
Absenteeism tracker template: common questions
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A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.