Monday and Friday Absenteeism: How to Measure Patterns Properly
In a five-day week, Mondays are about 20% of working days, and Mondays plus Fridays about 40%. If an employee's one-day absences fall on a Monday or Friday far more often than that, over enough absences, that is a pattern worth discussing. It is not proof of misuse. This guide shows how to measure it, with numbers.
What absenteeism patterns should HR look for?
- Weekend adjacency. Single-day absences on a Monday or Friday, which turn a weekend into three days.
- Public holiday adjacency. Absence on the working day before or after a public holiday, and on bridge days. In 2026, Youth Day falls on Tuesday 16 June, which makes Monday 15 June a bridge day. Heritage Day falls on Thursday 24 September, which makes Friday 25 September one. (gov.za public holidays)
- Payday and month-end. Absence on payday or the day after. The relevant days depend on whether staff are paid monthly, fortnightly or weekly.
- Next to annual leave. Sick days directly before or after approved leave.
- School holidays. Absence clustered in school holidays can point to childcare problems, which may be better handled with family responsibility leave or flexible shifts.
- Shift patterns. Absence on the first shift back after days off, after a night shift, or on a particular rotation. Here the baseline is the employee's roster, not the calendar week.
How to measure Monday and Friday absenteeism properly
Step 1: count absence spells, starting with one-day spells
Count each period of absence once (a spell), not each day. Start with one-day spells. A two-day spell from Thursday to Friday always touches a Friday, so longer spells inflate the Monday and Friday count by design. Look at multi-day spells separately.
Step 2: work out the expected share
The expected share is the share of the employee's scheduled working days that fall on that weekday. For a Monday to Friday worker in 2026, after removing South Africa's public holidays:
| Day | Working days in 2026 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 49 | 19.5% |
| Tuesday | 51 | 20.3% |
| Wednesday | 51 | 20.3% |
| Thursday | 51 | 20.3% |
| Friday | 49 | 19.5% |
| Total | 251 | 100% |
Mondays and Fridays together are 98 of 251 working days, or 39%. Mondays lose working days to Family Day (6 April), Freedom Day (27 April) and the Monday on which National Women's Day is observed (10 August). Fridays lose Good Friday, Workers' Day and Christmas Day. These are our calculations from the official 2026 list. (gov.za public holidays)
For a six-day worker, each day is about one sixth (16.7%) of the week. For shift workers, use the days they were actually rostered.
Step 3: compare actual with expected
Divide the employee's Monday and Friday one-day spells by all their one-day spells. Compare that with 39%.
Step 4: check whether the numbers are big enough
Ask how likely the result would be if the absences fell on random working days. The worked example below shows why this matters.
Step 5: compare with the team
If the whole team has a high Monday share, the cause is more likely to be something about the work (a Monday workload, weekend shifts, transport on Monday mornings) than individual behaviour.
Worked example: three employees and one team
These figures are illustrative. The chance figures are binomial probabilities, assuming each one-day absence is equally likely on any working day, using the 2026 baselines above.
| Case | One-day spells in 12 months | On the target days | Actual share | Expected share | Chance of this or more by chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee A (Mon or Fri) | 12 | 9 | 75% | 39% | About 1.3% (1 in 80) |
| Employee B (Mon or Fri) | 4 | 3 | 75% | 39% | About 17% (1 in 6) |
| Employee C (Mon only) | 10 | 6 | 60% | 19.5% | About 0.6% (1 in 180) |
| Team of 40 (Mon only) | 150 | 46 | 31% | 19.5% | Under 0.1% |
What this tells you:
- Employees A and B have the same share, but only A's pattern is unlikely to be chance. With four absences, a 75% share happens about one time in six by luck alone. Do not read anything into B's record yet.
- Employee C has a strong Monday-only pattern. That is a reason for a conversation. Ask about Sunday nights, Monday mornings and the commute, not only health.
- The team has a clear Monday excess spread across 40 people. That points to something in the team's work or circumstances. Talk to the manager and the team before talking to individuals.
The same method for public holidays
In 2026, 19 of the 251 weekday working days (7.6%) are the working day immediately before or after a public holiday (our calculation from the official list). If an employee has 10 one-day absences and 4 are next to a public holiday (40%), the chance of 4 or more by chance is about 0.5%. Three of ten (30%) still happens by chance about 3.5% of the time.
Pitfalls when reading absence patterns
- Small numbers. With fewer than about six to eight one-day absences, most patterns can happen by chance. Look at a longer period before acting.
- Checking many people. If you check 100 employees with 12 one-day absences each, you should expect about one to show a pattern as strong as Employee A's by chance alone. A flag is a prompt to ask, not a finding.
- Multi-day spells. Counting every day of a Thursday to Monday absence as "Friday and Monday" overstates the pattern. Count spells.
- Wrong baseline. Part-time staff who only work Mondays and Fridays, and shift workers, need their own baseline.
- Legitimate reasons. Chronic conditions that flare after weekend activity, clinic and specialist appointments, childcare, weekend transport problems, and violence at home can all produce weekend-adjacent absence. Our article on GBV and sick leave covers the last one.
- Data quality. Absences captured late, half days recorded as full days, and leave types recorded inconsistently all distort the result. Check the source data before you discuss it with anyone.
What to do when you find a Monday or Friday pattern
- Check the data and the numbers. Confirm the dates and that there are enough spells to mean something.
- Hold a return-to-work conversation. Show the dates, ask open questions, listen and record. Our guide to return-to-work interviews in South Africa includes questions to use.
- Offer support where it fits. EAP, occupational health, an adjusted start time, or a different leave category.
- Set expectations in writing. State the notification rule and when you will ask for medical certificates under BCEA section 23. A counselling record from our absenteeism warning letter templates can be used for this.
- Review after an agreed period, usually three months.
- Choose the right route if it continues. Misconduct needs evidence of a breach or dishonesty. Genuine illness is incapacity. See sick leave abuse in South Africa and incapacity vs misconduct.
Keep the line between suspicion and proof. In Woolworths v CCMA (2024), the Labour Appeal Court upheld a finding that a dismissal was unfair where the employer relied on suspicion about a doctor and had no evidence that the employee was not sick. (Woolworths v CCMA [2024] ZALAC 29) The 2025 Code of Good Practice: Dismissal also describes discipline as corrective, with informal correction often the best first step (items 6(2) and 6(6)). (Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, 2025)
How Appsentia detects absence patterns
Appsentia detects these patterns automatically from your payroll export or PaySpace data. A pattern incident is a sick spell shorter than five days that falls on a Monday or Friday, next to a public holiday, on payday or the day after, or next to other leave. Your company sets its working days and pay cycle (monthly, fortnightly or weekly), and South African public holidays are built in.
Each employee's attendance risk score (0 to 100) includes their Monday and Friday share alongside frequency, trend and comparison with their department. Department views show whether a pattern belongs to one person or a whole team. Appsentia does not read shift rosters or clock-in data, so for shift workers, check the roster before drawing conclusions. Every report states that a pattern flag does not, on its own, establish misuse. See what Appsentia analyses.
For a quick frequency score on one employee, try the Bradford Factor calculator. It weights frequent short spells but does not look at which days they fall on.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of sick days on a Monday is normal?
In a five-day week, Mondays are about 20% of working days. In 2026, with South African public holidays removed, Mondays are 49 of 251 weekday working days, or 19.5%. If absence were spread evenly, about one in five one-day absences would fall on a Monday. A share well above that, over enough absences, is worth a conversation.
Is a Monday and Friday pattern proof of sick leave abuse?
No. A pattern shows when absences happen, not why. Chronic conditions, weekend medical problems, childcare, transport and problems at home can all produce Monday and Friday absences. The Labour Appeal Court has found dismissals unfair where employers relied on suspicion without evidence that the employee was not sick.
How many absences do I need before a pattern means anything?
There is no fixed number, but small numbers are unreliable. Three of four one-day absences on a Monday or Friday happens by chance about 17% of the time. Nine of twelve happens by chance about 1.3% of the time. Wait until there are enough absences, or look at a longer period, before reading anything into the share.
Can I discipline an employee for a Monday and Friday pattern?
Not for the pattern alone. Use it to start a return-to-work or counselling conversation, set clear expectations, and apply the medical certificate rules in BCEA section 23 consistently. Discipline needs evidence of misconduct, such as failure to notify, failure to produce a certificate when lawfully required, or proven dishonesty.
What other absenteeism patterns should HR look for?
Absences next to public holidays, on payday or the day after, next to annual leave, during school holidays, and around shift changes. For each one, compare the share of absences on those days with the share of working days they make up.
Sources
- South African Government. Public holidays (2026 list; Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994). Working-day counts and adjacency shares on this page are our calculations from that list.
- Woolworths (Pty) Ltd v CCMA and Others (JA90/22) [2024] ZALAC 29 (13 June 2024).
- Department of Employment and Labour (4 September 2025). Code of Good Practice: Dismissal. Notice 3470 of 2025, Government Gazette 53294.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the 2025 Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, and any sectoral determination or bargaining council agreement that applies to you before acting on an absence pattern.
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