Measuring the Illness-Related Absenteeism — Can Bradford Factor Approximate the Indirect Cost of Illness?

In the management of human resources, the absences are monitored with Bradford Factor (BF) using the number and length of sick leaves. The sick leaves are also measured in health technology to assess the impact of health technologies on product loss, aka indirect cost (IC). Linking the BF and IC might promote BF as an outcome measure and facilitate the estimation of IC. We simulate a single company operation in several scenarios describing the firm’s functioning and adjustments to workers’ absence. We measure the BF and the IC due to absence and relate them with econometric modelling. Results show that BF and IC are associated in a non-linear way; hence, IC cannot be calculated from BF in a simple manner. The association is strongest for possibility to adjust to worker’s absence, and a high elasticity of substitution between workers. Therefore, the possibility to proxy IC by BF is rather limited.