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Absence Rates Sprint Capacity (Annual) Calculator

Estimate how employee absence affects your team's annual delivery capacity and average available capacity per sprint.

Your Details

Overview

This Absence Rates Sprint Capacity (Annual) Calculator estimates how much team capacity remains over a year after allowing for expected unplanned absence. Enter your team size, working days, productive daily hours, absence rate, and sprint length to see annual and average sprint capacity.

How it works

The calculator starts with scheduled team hours: team size multiplied by working days per person and productive hours per day. It then deducts the selected percentage for expected absence. To estimate average sprint capacity, the remaining annual hours are divided by the estimated number of sprints in the year. This provides a useful baseline for high-level delivery planning rather than a prediction for any individual sprint.

How to use this calculator

  1. 1Enter the number of people in the delivery team.
  2. 2Add the scheduled working days available to each person in the year.
  3. 3Enter average productive hours available on a normal working day.
  4. 4Set an expected absence rate based on your planning data.
  5. 5Choose your sprint length and review the annual and per-sprint capacity estimates.

Example Calculation

Team size

8

Working days per person per year

230

Productive hours per working day

7.5

Expected absence rate

5%

Sprint length

2

Annual available capacity

13,110 hours

The team has 13,800 planned hours per year. With a 5% absence allowance, estimated available capacity is 13,110 hours per year, or about 1,140 hours per two-week sprint.

Frequently asked questions

What is an absence rate in capacity planning?

An absence rate is the percentage of scheduled working time expected to be unavailable, commonly because of sickness or other unplanned time away.

Should annual leave be included in the absence rate?

Usually, no. If annual leave is planned, subtract it when setting working days per person. Use the absence rate for unplanned absence unless your organisation defines it differently.

Why is sprint capacity lower than scheduled team hours?

The calculator deducts expected absence from planned annual hours before dividing the remaining capacity across estimated sprints.

How do I choose an expected absence rate?

Use recent internal absence data where available, ideally for a comparable team and period. A planning rate may need updating as staffing patterns change.

Does this calculator account for meetings and training?

Only if you reduce productive hours per day to reflect them. The calculation does not separately model meetings, training, holidays, or project dependencies.

Can I use this for a team with different working patterns?

Yes, but the result is most accurate when the inputs represent team averages. For materially different schedules, calculate groups separately and combine the results.

Explore Related Calculators

Absence Rates Meeting Cost CalculatorEstimate the cost of employee absences from meetings using attendance, hourly cost, meeting length and absence rate.Calculate →Absence Rates Meeting Cost (Individual) CalculatorEstimate the annual cost of an individual employee's absence using salary, working days, absence days, employer costs and cover costs.Calculate →Absence Rates Meeting Cost (Team) CalculatorEstimate the payroll cost of planned team meetings and the cost linked to expected employee absences or no-shows.Calculate →Absence Rates Meeting Cost (Annual) CalculatorEstimate the annual payroll cost of employee absences from recurring meetings using attendance levels, meeting time and hourly employment cost.Calculate →

Assumptions and warnings

Assumptions

  • The entered absence rate applies evenly across the team and throughout the year.
  • A working week is assumed to contain five working days when estimating the number of sprints.
  • Productive hours per day represent time available for planned delivery work.
  • The result is a planning estimate and does not account for individual skill mix, dependencies, or changing demand.

Warnings

  • This calculator provides a planning estimate only; actual capacity can vary due to project work, staffing changes, meetings, training, and unexpected events.
Absence Rates Sprint Capacity (Annual) Calculator