Manchester, England – Festival season is in full swing, and employers are certainly seeing the impact of staff attending a variety of iconic events.
Absence data from BrightHR gives insight into the impact of key events, such as Glastonbury and the first weekend of the Oasis tour.
Glastonbury weekend (June 25-29)
- Friday June 27th: Planned absences 6.1% higher than the June Friday average
- Monday June 30th: Planned absences 11.4% higher than typical June Mondays
Oasis reunion – First weekend (July 11-14)
- Monday July 14th: People definitely maybe needed the day off, planned absences were 11.4% above the June baseline.
Alan Price, CEO at BrightHR, says “The pattern is clear; when big cultural events happen, people plan around them. The Monday after Glastonbury is a clear example – people thought ahead and booked their recovery day. And it wasn’t employers who were left with the sore heads.”
While planned absences spike around these events, BrightHR’s sickness data tells a different story. Post-event Mondays are traditionally prime ‘sickie’ territory, but the data shows that sickness rates did not explode the way you may expect.
There was a 28.4% decrease in sickness absence on the Monday after the first Oasis weekend, whilst the Monday post-Glastonbury saw only saw 4,097 sickness reports across the UK.
Alan Price says, “It turns out that when people can easily and openly plan time off they’re less likely to develop mysterious 48-hour bugs. Instead, they just roll with it. At our Manchester HQ we had a front-row seat to the Oasis spectacle. Hotels are full and the city is buzzing, with people travelling from everywhere to experience the reunion nobody thought would happen. Many of our team booked time off well in advance.
“Whether it’s Glastonbury, Oasis, or whatever massive cultural moment comes next (Women’s Euros final, maybe?), your workforce will prioritise these events. The question isn’t whether they’ll go, it’s whether they’ll be honest about it.
“Our data shows that transparency works. When people can plan their holidays openly, everyone benefits. More predictable staffing, fewer last-minute surprises, and staff who respect the system because the system respects them.
“All employers know the times of year when annual leave requests increase, so having clear absence policies, planning ahead and asking employees to book time off in advance during these times are all key to helping maintain business operations.
“That’s not about being the “rock ‘n’ roll star” employer. Some might say it’s being the competent one.”
