Formula
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Days present | Days the employee attended, including approved work from home and on duty days if your policy treats them as present. Half days count as 0.5. |
| Scheduled working days | Days in the period minus the weekly offs and holidays that apply to the employee's shift, branch and department. |
Worked example
Priya works in a Bengaluru office on a five-day week. September 2026 had 30 days, 8 weekend days as weekly offs and 1 company holiday. She was present on 18 days, including 2 days of approved work from home, took 2 days of casual leave and was absent without leave for 1 day.
- Scheduled working days = 30 minus 8 weekly offs minus 1 holiday = 21
- Days present = 18, including the 2 approved work from home days
- Attendance percentage = 18 / 21 x 100 = 85.71% (85.714 rounded to 2 decimals)
- Payable days for salary = 18 present + 2 casual leave + 8 weekly offs + 1 holiday = 29, with 1 day of loss of pay
Attendance percentage versus payable days
Payroll works with payable days: days present plus paid leave, paid weekly offs and holidays, with loss of pay for unapproved absence. Attendance percentage looks only at presence on days the employee was expected to work. An employee who takes all their earned leave can draw full pay and still show a lower attendance percentage, which is perfectly acceptable. Keep the two apart in reports, and do not use attendance percentage to decide salary.
Team and company attendance
For a team, add up days present across all employees and divide by the total scheduled working days, instead of averaging individual percentages. Averaging percentages gives a mid-month joiner the same weight as someone who worked the whole month. Compare each department with its own figure for the same month last year, because festival and harvest seasons shift attendance in predictable ways. If an incentive scheme uses attendance as a condition, write the exact formula into the scheme, including how leave and half days count.
- Individual attendance: one person's presence against their own roster.
- Team attendance: total days present over total scheduled days.
- Daily attendance: people present today over people rostered today.
Common calculation errors
Using calendar days as the base, counting approved leave as absence and forgetting branch-specific holidays are the usual mistakes, and each one drags the percentage down without any change in behaviour. Decide how work from home, on duty and half days count, write it down and apply it every month. Recalculate after attendance corrections are approved, since a missed punch can turn a present day into an absent one.
How to improve it
- Publish rosters and holiday lists early so employees plan leave instead of staying away.
- Make attendance corrections quick to raise and approve, so missed punches do not show up as absence.
- Discuss low attendance privately and look for health, commute or family causes before any action.
- Recognize steady attendance in team meetings rather than only penalizing absence.
- Check that weekly off and holiday settings match each branch, so scheduled days are correct.
Tracking it in ZeniaHR
In ZeniaHR, each employee's attendance month log in My Self-Service shows every day's status with late marks and penalties, and after month close the monthly payable days feed Direct Payroll. Weekly offs come from each shift's weekly off pattern and holidays from the Holiday Calendars for the branch and department. For attendance percentage, download the day log as CSV, up to 92 days at a time, and divide present days by scheduled days.
See it on your own data
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How do you calculate attendance percentage of an employee?
Divide the days the employee was present by the days they were scheduled to work, then multiply by 100. Scheduled days leave out weekly offs and holidays. For example, 18 days present out of 21 scheduled working days gives an attendance percentage of 85.71 percent, rounded to 2 decimals.
Is paid leave counted as present in attendance percentage?
No. Paid leave counts toward payable days for salary, but the employee was not at work, so it is not presence. If you want a measure that treats approved leave as acceptable, use the absenteeism rate, which counts only unplanned absence, rather than changing the attendance formula.
How are half days treated in attendance percentage?
Count a half day as 0.5 of a day present and 0.5 of a day absent or on leave, depending on how the other half was recorded. Use the same rule in the attendance policy, the monthly report and payroll, so the numbers reconcile when an employee questions them.