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Glastonbury set to cost employers £30m

This weekend’s Glastonbury festival provided quite a distraction for many employees who weren’t even at the festival – along with an even bigger bill for their employers.

Between Friday and today it is estimated that office workers checking their friends photos and updates from the festival could cost the UK economy more than £30 million.

It has even been estimated that some staff would spend up to an hour a day on Facebook, a figure that will especially affect businesses with a high percentage of staff under 30 years old.

These figures have been attributed to the rise of smartphone technology, which gives those people left in the office almost instant access to their friends’ festival experiences.

Employment law expert Peter Mooney said: “It used to be that all bosses had to watch out for around festivals like Glastonbury were the few staff who were brazen enough to ring in sick when they were actually at the festival, and the handful of others who came back exhausted.”

“Now it’s just as likely to be the staff who turn up to work who cost businesses most in lost productivity. Although they are at their desk in body, their minds and attention are elsewhere.”

It is recommended that business remind staff of policy relating to social media, especially at the start of the summer months.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .