Sick leave: how to calculate the absence percentage

The formula

Statistics Norway (SSB) defines the sick leave percentage like this:

Sick leave percentage = sick leave workdays / agreed workdays × 100

• Agreed workdays are the workdays agreed with the employer, adjusted for the percentage of a full-time position. Workdays are calendar days minus weekends and official public holidays.
• Sick leave workdays are the workdays with sick leave, adjusted for the percentage of a full-time position and the degree of sick leave.

Nav (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) describes the same for companies: agreed workdays are the number of employees times operating days in the period times position share, and graded absence is multiplied by the degree of grading.

A worked example

This example was made for the guide. A company has ten employees in full-time positions, and 60 operating days in the quarter.

• Agreed workdays: 10 × 60 × 1 = 600.
• The absence days in the quarter, adjusted for position percentage and degree, add up to 42 workdays.
• Sick leave percentage: 42 / 600 × 100 = 7 percent.

If an employee has a 50 percent position, they count as 0.5 in both numerator and denominator. If an employee is 40 percent on sick leave for a day, the day counts as 0.4.

What is counted?

• Sick leave covers both self-certified and medically certified absence. Nav’s own statistics show only medically certified absence, while SSB includes both.
• Absence because of a child’s illness, leave and unapproved absence is not recorded as sick leave days, according to Nav.
• The company’s own calculation may differ from SSB’s, which uses figures from the a-ordningen (the national payroll reporting system).

What must the company keep statistics on?

Nav writes that all employers must keep statistics on sick leave and absence because of a child’s illness. The statistics are not sent to Nav, but the business may be asked to show them to the Labour Inspection Authority. Nav suggests dividing absence by duration: 1 to 3 days, 4 to 16 days, more than 16 days and more than 8 weeks, and separating self-certified from medically certified. Businesses with fewer than 20 employees must at least count agreed workdays and sick leave every quarter.

Systematic work on preventing and following up sick leave is also part of the HSE work requirements. See the guide on HSE requirements.

How high is sick leave elsewhere?

SSB reports that sick leave for employees in all industries was 6.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), against 6.4 percent in the second quarter of 2025. The figures are updated regularly, so check SSB for the latest. Compare with care: the definitions may differ from the company’s own calculation.

Self-certification and follow-up

• The employer period is up to 16 calendar days, during which the employer pays sick pay (National Insurance Act section 8-19).
• Self-certification can be used for up to three calendar days at a time, and the employer can grant extended entitlement (section 8-24).
• A follow-up plan must be made no later than when an employee has been fully or partly absent for four weeks, and a dialogue meeting must be called within seven weeks (Working Environment Act section 4-6, and Nav).

See also the guide on the staff handbook for how to gather the procedures.

How the portal helps

The HR system has holiday and absence in a calendar, where employees apply and the manager approves. It also has absence statistics and a balance for holiday and absence, so you do not have to count in spreadsheets.

Read about the HR system

Sources

The rules change. Always check the current text with the sources below. Most sources are in Norwegian. This guide is general information and not legal advice.

• Sick leave (Statistics Norway, Norwegian)
• Before sick leave: statistics and prevention (Nav, Norwegian)
• How to follow up employees on sick leave (Nav, Norwegian)
• National Insurance Act sections 8-19 and 8-24 on the employer period and self-certification (Lovdata, Norwegian)
• Working Environment Act section 4-6 on follow-up of sick leave (Lovdata, Norwegian)