Extended Summer Holiday, Soaring Sickness and National Staffing Shortages Creates the Perfect September Storm

With an estimated 50% more holiday to take in 2021 than 2020, the average UK employee still has 17 days of leave to book this year

September sees a 53% increase of week-long holiday bookings on pre-pandemic 2019 in the midst of resourcing crisis

The Logistics and Delivery industry is overworked, with 35% less leave than the national average as it approaches the festive season, and sickness rates 139% higher than average

Nottingham, UK, 23rd September 2021: Data from global absence management provider, Edays has shed light on the perfect September storm with the UK workforce having half of its annual holiday allowance left to take with only a quarter of the year remaining.

Despite the end of the British summer holiday period, the average UK employee still has 17 days of leave to book this year. The national average entitlement for the UK workforce is 33 days in 2021, factoring in the 50% increase in holiday rollover allowed from 2020. In light of this, the UK employee is still capitalising on their 2020 holiday rollover with a 53% increase in week-long holiday bookings on pre-pandemic rates.

With recent changes to the UK’s travel list, access to the US restored, and the relaxing of PCR testing and quarantine rules, findings show that half term bookings have increased by 200%. Organisations are therefore likely to see a sudden increase in holiday bookings, causing strained absence levels as employees try to cram in the rest of their holidays.

“As businesses fight staff shortages and employees face a winter burnout, employers will need to have a much better understanding of their absence rates in order to effectively manage the resource constraints amplified by the extended booking period for summer holiday into September,” warns Matt Jenkins, CEO of Edays. “Our absence management technology enables businesses to access real-time insights, alerting HR leaders of absence trends before they develop into business-wide crises.”

Burnout or Bust
This problem is evident as we approach Logistics and Delivery’s busiest season. Data has revealed that the industry’s workforce has 35% less leave to take throughout the year than the national average, fuelling the likelihood of mass employee burnout. This follows the news that the industry has seen sickness rates 139% higher than average in the last month in the midst of its resourcing and supplies crisis, only exacerbating the fears of a Christmas staffing shortfall.

With only an average of 22 days to take each year, this industry still tracks with the national planned absence trend having taken only 50% of this reduced allowance.

The Logistics and Delivery industry also tops the list of those hit hardest by the staffing shortfall with a reported 100,000+ vacancies for HGV drivers, with resources stretched thin. Therefore, employees and industry leaders are left to choose between burnout or bust as the increased workload will not likely allow for much time to take planned leave.

Jenkins added: “With so much holiday left to take and the ONS announcing that vacancies are at a record high, one of the greatest challenges in the lead up to Christmas will be for business leaders to strike a healthy balance between encouraging employees to take some all important recovery time without exacerbating the nationwide resourcing crisis. We’re seeing extended holiday booking into September in the midst of resourcing problems – and this is only further compounded by the holiday backlog. The solution is to use insight-led technology to remove the strain of absence management and accurately forecast for 2022 to avoid facing the same challenges next year.”

To find out more about how Edays can transform your approach to absence, click here: https://www.e-days.com/.

END

About Edays
Founded by Steve Arnold and Chris Moseley, Edays is an award-winning, cloud-based absence management and intelligence platform that makes holiday and absence management easy and accurate for organisations of all sizes, anywhere in the world. Edays delivers for more than 1,500 customers across 120 countries, including brands such as ASOS, AXA, Monster Energy, and Sony.

The Edays mission is to provide organisations with key intelligence regarding staff absence – enabling them to build better staff management and wellbeing strategies. Absence intelligence allows businesses to achieve better resourcing insights, save time and money associated with employee absence, and promote excellent employee wellbeing and better health for organisational success.

Press enquiries
For all media requests, please contact Rachel Johnstone
rjohnstone@thecommsco.com
Mob: +44 7930 578985

Source: RealWire