Organizations consider time and attendance in UK as one of the most essential tools for efficient workforce management and planning. Organizations have been using different time and attendance tools for maintaining records of their employees for over centuries now. Earlier all the record maintenance jobs were done manually. Many a times these manually maintained records had flaws. With time and improvements in technology, time and attendance software were created which were automatic and computerized. Therefore, the records maintained and reports generated through these software, had no flaws.


With the growing demands for more effective solutions for absence management and workforce management in UK, the Bradford factor solution was introduced in the market. Due to the many benefits and usefulness of this solution, it has been widely accepted and used by a number of organizations from different sectors in UK.


Bradford Factor in UK is an efficient and effective workforce management tool used by organizations for measuring the rate of absenteeism and also identifying the areas of absenteeism. According to this theory absenteeism that is frequent, short and unplanned is more troublesome for an organization that longer absenteeism. This theory is supported by the fact that, it is easier to distribute the work of an employee on a planned long leave (due to some genuine problem or illness) among the co-workers, than distributing the work of an employee who becomes absent suddenly. If unplanned and sudden absenteeism is repeated on a regular basis, the organization may also have to suffer loses.


According to Bradford factor, an employee who practices unplanned absenteeism regularly will have a high Bradford Factor score. High scores will raise questions on the genuineness of his/her absenteeism.


Bradford Factor in UK uses the formulae E x E x D = Bradford Factor Score where E is the total number of absence and D is the total number of days absent in a rolling 52 week period. The organizations which have implemented this system have found it to be a useful and efficient tool which helps to keep a check on and control the rate of absenteeism.


Besides these tools, organizations have also identified flexible working in UK as an efficient tool, which helps to reduce absenteeism, as well as, increase the efficiency of employees.


No matter which tool for efficient workforce management in UK is selected by an organization, it should be ensured that the tool is flexible and easy to use and is purchased from a reliable and reputed vendor.