Logging Absences

Recording absences accurately is essential for tracking staff availability, managing costs, and meeting your legal obligations as an employer. StaffBrik makes it straightforward to log absences - whether a barista calls in sick on a Monday morning or a chef has a planned hospital appointment next month.

How to Record an Absence

1. Navigate to StaffBrik > Absences.
2. Click Log Absence.
3. Select the employee from the dropdown.
4. Choose the absence category (see below).
5. Set the start date and end date.
6. Add any relevant notes (e.g. "Called in at 6:15am, flu symptoms").
7. Click Save.

StaffBrik will automatically detect any scheduled shifts that fall within the absence period and mark them as affected. You do not need to manually cancel or reassign shifts - the rota will reflect the absence immediately.

tip

If an employee phones in sick before their morning shift, log the absence straight away. This gives you the best chance of finding cover while the information is fresh.

Absence Categories

Each absence must be assigned a category. The category determines whether the absence counts toward the employee's Bradford Factor score, which is used to identify patterns of short, frequent absences.

Category	When to Use	Counts Toward Bradford Factor?
Standard Sick	Regular illness - cold, flu, stomach bug, migraine	Yes
Disability-related	Absence directly related to a declared disability	No
Approved Medical	Planned medical procedures, hospital appointments, surgery recovery	No
Compassionate	Bereavement, family emergency, critical family illness	No
Unauthorised	No-show with no valid reason, failure to follow absence reporting procedure	Yes

caution

Disability-related absences are excluded from the Bradford Factor to comply with the Equality Act 2010. Recording a disability-related absence as "Standard Sick" could expose your business to discrimination claims. If an employee has disclosed a disability, always use the correct category.

info

Approved Medical absences are also excluded from the Bradford Factor. Use this category for planned procedures such as a knee operation or dental surgery where the employee has given advance notice and the absence has been agreed.

Start and End Dates

Set the first and last day the employee is absent. StaffBrik counts calendar days (not working days) for the absence duration, but only scheduled shifts within the period are flagged as affected.

Example: A sous chef is off sick from Monday to Friday. They were only scheduled to work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. StaffBrik records a 5-day absence but flags 3 affected shifts.

Extending an Absence

If an employee's absence runs longer than originally expected:

1. Open the existing absence record from StaffBrik > Absences.
2. Click Edit.
3. Change the end date to the new expected return date.
4. Add a note explaining the extension (e.g. "Still unwell, GP signed off until Friday").
5. Click Save.

The absence remains as a single instance - extending it does not create a second Bradford Factor event.

tip

Extending an absence rather than creating a new one is important for Bradford Factor accuracy. One continuous absence of 7 days scores much lower than two separate absences. See the Bradford Factor page for worked examples.

Retrospective Logging

You can log absences after the fact. This is useful when:

• You were too busy to log it on the day (the Saturday morning rush waits for no one).
• You need to correct a record after speaking with the employee.
• Payroll needs historical records tidied up.

Simply set the start and end dates to the correct past dates when creating the absence. StaffBrik will backdate the record and update affected shifts accordingly.

Affected Shifts Auto-Detection

When you log an absence, StaffBrik scans the rota for any shifts assigned to that employee within the absence period. These shifts are automatically:

• Marked as absent on the rota view.
• Excluded from wage cost calculations for the period.
• Flagged so you can quickly see which shifts need cover.

You can view all affected shifts from the absence record itself, giving you a clear picture of the operational impact.

info

Affected shift detection works with shifts that are already published. If you publish new shifts after logging an absence, StaffBrik will warn you if you attempt to assign a shift to someone with an active absence.