Think work calculated Bradford Factor Incorrectly

Fuskercat

Like the title says
I was off sick just after Christmas but felt like I was getting better and returned to work on New Years Day. The next day I felt really ill again but went to work...got there and hadn't even clocked in and said I was going home as I felt awful. In total I had 8 days off (including the weekend when I was due to be off anyway, but I know it's included in sick days). Previously I hadn't been ill since the last two days of February 2013 and the first day of March, so three days there.
So over the last year I've had eleven days off ill over three occasions.
My understanding of the Bradford Factor is it's the number of days sick squared (so 3x3) multiplied by the total days off in that year (11) which I reckon comes to 99. My manager has worked it out as 3x3x3x11 coming to 297! I'm sure this can't be right! Any advice? Am I calculating it wrong or is she? I've looked around online and I'm sure she's wrong and not me

agrinnall

Wikipedia agrees with you (although obviously it's the number of periods of sickness squared rather than what you said) so 99 is correct. If you can't convince your manager that she's wrong you may have to put in a grievance to get it looked at by HR.

Fuskercat

Yes, the number of periods sick, hence three, got a bit confused typing it all out! Seems she has cubed the periods of sickness not squared to me!

i_want_to_believe

The Bradford factor is calculated using the Bradford Formula S2 x D = B

S is the total number separate absences
D is the total number of days of absence of that individual over the same set period(normally a running year)
B is the Bradford Factor score

so 3x3x11=99

Evilm

Yeah, they've got it wrong!

cr1mson

I think you are both wrong as by going into work on New Year's Day would mean that your sickness over the festive period would be counted as two instances so 4x4x11 = 176.

agrinnall

cr1mson wrote: »

I think you are both wrong as by going into work on New Year's Day would mean that your sickness over the festive period would be counted as two instances so 4x4x11 = 176.

I think you need to re-read the OP:

Feb/Mar 3 days, 1 period
Christmas - New Year's Eve, x days, 1 period
New Year's Day - return, 8-x days, 1 period

I think an argument could be made that there was no return to work on new Year's Day and it's actually 2 periods, so the score would be 2x2x11 = 44.

cr1mson

agrinnall wrote: »

I think you need to re-read the OP:

Feb/Mar 3 days, 1 period
Christmas - New Year's Eve, x days, 1 period
New Year's Day - return, 8-x days, 1 period

I think an argument could be made that there was no return to work on new Year's Day and it's actually 2 periods, so the score would be 2x2x11 = 44.

Apologies my bad I read it as 2 days in Feb and 1 in March!

Fuskercat

Update:
Spoke to my manager today explaining that I thought she'd miscalculated and that I'd researched it online from lots of different sources. She was a bit shouty and said it wasn't wrong and she would show me the official formula sent by head office. I was thinking if it was wrong in the email from head office I'd have to take it higher than my manager as it would surely be a mistake!
Anyway, an hour or two into my shift she called me over and apologised profusely in front of several other collegues. She WAS wrong (I knew it!) and she had amended my Bradford score in my file (99 as I thought). She said sorry and I thanked her for checking it for me.
Went back to my job with a little extra spring in my step, it's not often the boss gives a heartfelt apology like that!

monty-doggy

Brilliant! Well done you!

mariefab

I think it's still wrong. It should be 81. (3X3X9)

The weekend that you were due to be off anyway shouldn't have been included.
The Bradford Factor is only supposed to use the number of days/shifts absent from work. So, if you work Monday-Friday and have a week off sick, 5 days should be counted.

If they include non-working weekends a Monday-Friday worker who turned up on several Mondays saying that they were ill over the weekend would accrue points. So, someone could never miss a day of work but still accumulate a high enough score to be disciplined.
That makes no sense at all.