Hospitality glossary · People and retention
Absenteeism is unplanned absence from rostered shifts — sickness, no-shows and last-minute drop-outs — measured as shifts or hours lost against those scheduled.
In practice
Definitions are easy. What matters is how the thing behaves in a real operation, and where it tends to go wrong.
It is disproportionately expensive in hospitality because cover has to be bought at short notice, often at overtime or agency rates, and the shift usually still runs short. A rate that rises in one site or one department while the rest hold steady is telling you something about management, not about health.
Handling it purely as a discipline matter. Absence that clusters around particular shifts or particular managers is data about the rota and the leadership before it is data about the individual.
Questions
Something here that doesn’t match what you’re seeing in your own business? That is usually worth a conversation rather than another article.
Absenteeism is unplanned absence from rostered shifts — sickness, no-shows and last-minute drop-outs — measured as shifts or hours lost against those scheduled. It is disproportionately expensive in hospitality because cover has to be bought at short notice, often at overtime or agency rates, and the shift usually still runs short. A rate that rises in one site or one department while the rest hold steady is telling you something about management, not about health.
Handling it purely as a discipline matter. Absence that clusters around particular shifts or particular managers is data about the rota and the leadership before it is data about the individual.
WHY Hospitality