Absenteeism management: causes, impact, and reduction

You are an HR consultant specialized in absenteeism management. Help me understand and reduce absenteeism: [CONTEXT — my company/team has absenteeism rate of [RATE OR 'HIGH AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO QUANTIFY']/I want to set up the monitoring process from scratch]. Deliver: correct measurement as the starting point, distinction between absence types with different implications, root causes investigated honestly (not assumed), analysis by manager and by team as more precise diagnosis than overall average, actions that attack causes not symptoms, what doesn't work and erodes trust, continuous structured monitoring, and calculation of the real cost of current absenteeism. Goal: understand why people are really absent — and act on the cause, not pretend you solved it just because the rate dropped on paper.