Absence management systems are becoming increasingly popular, sophisticated and effective. The reason is simple.  Organisations are realising that although absence doesn't usually appear as a line item in a budget, it is nevertheless, very expensive. 

The cost of absence can be calculated by taking: 

Average salary x absence percent per year x no of employees

Plus 30% on costs (assuming 230 working days per year)

Below are two tables for organisations of 250 and 500 employees showing the cost of absence according to a given salary and level of absence. More tables are available on the adjacent pages.

250	Employees
% Absence per anum	1%	3%	4%	5%	6%	7%
(Days per year)	(2.3)	(6.9)	(9.2)	(11.5)	(13.8)	(16.1)
Average salary (£k)	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
30,000	0.10	0.29	0.39	0.49	0.59	0.68
28,000	0.09	0.27	0.36	0.46	0.55	0.64
26,000	0.08	0.25	0.34	0.42	0.51	0.59
24,000	0.08	0.23	0.31	0.39	0.47	0.55
22,000	0.07	0.21	0.29	0.36	0.43	0.50
20,000	0.07	0.20	0.26	0.33	0.39	0.46
18,000	0.06	0.18	0.23	0.29	0.35	0.41
15,000	0.05	0.15	0.20	0.24	0.29	0.34

500	Employees
% Absence per anum	1%	3%	4%	5%	6%	7%
(Days per year)	(2.3)	(6.9)	(9.2)	(11.5)	(13.8)	(16.1)
Average salary (£k)	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
30,000	0.20	0.59	0.78	0.98	1.17	1.37
28,000	0.18	0.55	0.73	0.91	1.09	1.27
26,000	0.17	0.51	0.68	0.85	1.01	1.18
24,000	0.16	0.47	0.62	0.78	0.94	1.09
22,000	0.14	0.43	0.57	0.72	0.86	1.00
20,000	0.13	0.39	0.52	0.65	0.78	0.91
18,000	0.12	0.35	0.47	0.59	0.70	0.82
15,000	0.10	0.29	0.39	0.49	0.59	0.68