Human Rights & Social Sustainability
Absenteeism
The rate at which workers are absent from work because of incapacity of any kind, used as an indicator of workforce health, wellbeing and working conditions.
Definition
Workers' absence from work because of incapacity of any kind, excluding permitted leave such as holidays, study, parental or compassionate leave. GRI 403:2016 defined the absentee rate as actual absentee days lost expressed as a percentage of total days scheduled to be worked over the same period.
References
Glossary definitions of "absentee" and "absentee rate"; Disclosure 403-2 reporting requirements (breakdowns by region and gender).
GRI 403:2018 published 28 June 2018, effective for reports from 1 January 2021, replacing the 2016 version.
Overview
What it means
Persistently high absenteeism can signal poor physical or mental health, unsafe or stressful working conditions, or low morale. Because it is influenced by illness, injury and workplace culture alike, it is read alongside injury and lost-day rates rather than in isolation.
How it is used
Employers track absenteeism in human-resources analytics as a wellbeing and productivity indicator. In sustainability reporting, GRI 403:2016 (Disclosure 403-2) required the absentee rate for all employees, broken down by region and gender; the 2018 revision of GRI 403 restructured occupational health and safety disclosures, and absenteeism is now more often reported through broader human-capital metrics.
Why it matters
Absenteeism links working conditions to business performance and social sustainability outcomes. It carries direct costs (lost output, cover labour) and acts as an early-warning signal of systemic health and safety or wellbeing problems.
Definitions and controversy
Definitions differ on whether to count only unplanned incapacity absences; GRI excludes permitted leave. Comparability across jurisdictions is limited by differing sick-leave entitlements.
Review
Public comments appear only after editor acceptance. Draft comments stay in the review queue.
Reviewers choose the definition or an overview paragraph, leave a comment or replacement, and attach evidence or a source link.
Editors compare reviewer cards side by side. AI may help find agreement, conflicts, unsupported claims and possible source issues.
Only an editor-accepted synthesis changes the public page. Reviewer identities are shown only with consent and an editorial decision to attribute them.
Submitted reviews stay private until an editor decides whether to accept and attribute them.
Contribute to this entry
Help improve this definition
Your contribution is private while it is checked. Nothing changes on this page unless an editor accepts it.
Loading verified endorsements… Endorsements are not votes and never determine publication.
Endorse this definition
Endorse the exact version shown here. This is not a vote, and publication remains an editorial decision.
Review board
Comment on a specific line. Each reviewer stays separate until an editor accepts a merged draft.
Each person comments on the definition or overview in their own draft card, with role, evidence and suggested wording kept together.
AI can compare comments against the current text, flag conflicting claims, surface missing evidence and identify where reviewers agree.
An editor merges compatible suggestions into a draft change, checks sources, records disagreements and decides what can be published.