Few employers have a mechanism in place to track incidental absence, despite its significant effect on the full costs of absence, including lost productivity. Analysis from the database that drives IBI’s employee self-report tool, the HPQ-Select, shows several important characteristics of workforce absence that point to improved disability and population health management: the importance of multiple chronic and co-morbid medical conditions, the diverse conditions that drive lost time versus group health costs and the relative importance of presenteeism.