HR and staffing for events, festivals and seasonal teams
HR for the people who make events happen
Lanyard puts your core team, seasonal staff, freelance crew and volunteers in one place. Staff every event, approve leave that knows your calendar, and keep training and paperwork in order, from first sign-up to final load-out.
- Core team
- Seasonal
- Freelance crew
- Volunteers
- Contractors
Who it's for
Everyone who wears your lanyard
Most HR software stops at the payroll list. On event day you also have seasonal staff, freelance crew, volunteers and contractors. Lanyard gives each of them the right record and the right access.
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Core team
The full HR record: contracts, pay, leave, 1:1s and reviews, with weekend working patterns built in.
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Seasonal staff
Fixed-term starters onboard themselves from a link. On their last day, access ends automatically.
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Freelance crew
Their schedule, training and certificates behind one sign-in link, without a full HR record.
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Volunteers
Sign up, complete training and see where they're posted. Counted on the planner next to paid staff.
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Contractors
Agency and contract teams get their own desk with hours and timesheets, kept apart from staff HR.
How it works
Your season as a running order
Office HR tools assume Monday to Friday. Your year runs on weekends, venues and a crew that changes from one event to the next. This is how Lanyard covers it, from eight weeks out to the morning after.
Recruit & onboard
New starters fill in their own details, sign their contract online and upload right-to-work documents. HR works from one checklist per starter.
Train & certify
Assign training to staff and freelancers alike. Certificates are stored with expiry dates, and a compliance matrix shows who is cleared for what in each region.
Staff the event
Drop people into roles on the planner. Pencil someone in and their manager is asked to confirm. When every role is filled, Lanyard tells you.
Brief & kit out
Briefings land in everyone's calendar. Uniform and equipment are issued against each person, so you know what's out and who has it.
On site
Everyone has their schedule on their phone. Incidents are logged from site in a minute and turned into follow-up tasks for the right team.
Wrap
Weekend work becomes time off in lieu, approved automatically. Staffing cost per event is ready for finance, and a digest of planner changes goes to Slack.
Look after people
Leave, 1:1s, pulse surveys, Employee of the Month, birthday cards and exit interviews. The things that bring good people back next season.
Event planner
A planner that starts with your events
Your event calendar feeds the planner, so every column is a real event with a date, a venue and a region. You fill the roles.
- Fill named roles, or set a headcount for crew and volunteers.
- Leave, days away and set-up days sit on the same grid, so nobody is double-booked.
- Pencil someone in and their manager is asked to confirm.
- Every edit records who made it, and a daily digest of changes goes to Slack.
- Forecast the staffing cost of each event before it happens.
- Export any view to CSV.
| Role | Lakeside 10KSat 13 Jun · NorthSet-up Fri | Riverside HalfSun 14 Jun · North | Harbour Sprint TriSat 20 Jun · South | Forest Trail 25KSun 21 Jun · Midlands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event director | EC | EC | AR | + Needs staff |
| Venue lead | PSLeave requested | PS | AH | P · DN |
| Timing | KM | KM | JL | JL |
| Build crew | 4 / 4 | 3 / 4 | 4 / 4 | 0 / 4 |
| Volunteers | 12 / 12 | 18 / 20 | 8 / 8 | 6 / 10 |
| Forecast cost | £1,240 | £1,880 | £960 | £1,410 |
Example planner. Names and figures are illustrative.
Leave & Slack
Leave that knows which weekends matter
Approvers see the clash before they say yes, and staff get answers in Slack without emailing HR.
- Weekend and event-only working patterns, so a Saturday off counts as a day off.
- Time off in lieu for event weekends, approved automatically.
- Clash checks against the planner and the rest of the team.
- Blackout dates for your busiest weekends.
- Bank holidays for each country you work in, plus company half days.
- Approvals routed per person and leave type, with reminders in Slack.
- Leave shows up in each person's Google Calendar.
Priya Shah has asked for Sat 13 – Sun 14 Jun off. That's 2 days on her weekend working pattern.
ClashPriya is Venue Lead at Lakeside 10K on Sat 13 Jun. Two other people in North are already off that weekend.
How much leave have I got left?
You have 6.5 days left this leave year, plus 1 day of TOIL from Riverside Half. Your next event is Harbour Sprint Tri on Sat 20 Jun.
Access & privacy
Every badge opens the right doors
Six levels of access, from owner to guest. Personal details stay with the people who need them.
| Role | 1Own schedule & training | 2Own leave & details | 3Team leave & approvals | 4People records | 5Pay, bank & ID | 6Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OwnerFounders and directors | ||||||
| HRPeople team | ||||||
| LeadershipSenior team, view only | View | View | Some | |||
| Line managerAnyone with direct reports | Own team | Own team | ||||
| StaffCore and seasonal | ||||||
| GuestFreelancers and volunteers |
Filled box = full access · Outline = no access
Sensitive fields masked
Pay, bank and ID details stay hidden until someone with access chooses to reveal them.
Changes go through HR
Staff update their own details, and HR approves each change before it's saved.
No passwords
Everyone signs in with a link sent to their email.
A full edit history
Every change to the planner records who made it and when.
Leavers lose access on time
Set a last day and access ends with it, automatically.
Kept out of search
Your people pages are never indexed by search engines.
- Connects to
- Slack
- Google Calendar
- Google Workspace
- Asana
Where it comes from
Built in the field
Lanyard started as the in-house system of a UK company that runs mass-participation sports events most weekends of the year.
It replaced their old HR platform and the staffing spreadsheet. Today it runs their onboarding, leave, training, event staffing and incident log, and it was built one request at a time by the people who work the events.
Pricing
Pay for your core team. Crew rides free.
One monthly price per core team member. Seasonal staff only count in the months they work. Freelance crew, volunteers and contractors are included, however many you bring on for peak season.
- Every feature on this page
- Help moving your people, leave balances and documents across
- Monthly or annual billing
Prices on request during early access
Questions
Before you ask
Do freelancers and volunteers need a full account?
No. They sign in with an email link and see their own schedule, training and certificates. You keep a full HR record only for the people who need one.
Can it replace our staffing spreadsheet?
Yes. The planner pulls in your event calendar, you fill the roles, and leave and set-up days show on the same grid. Export any view to CSV whenever you need it.
Can we bring our data with us?
Yes. People, leave balances, documents and signed contracts can all be imported. We moved our own company off a mainstream HR platform the same way.
Is it only for sports events?
No. It suits any team whose year runs on dates and venues: festivals, races, tours, conferences, outdoor hospitality and seasonal attractions.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Staff and crew check their schedule, book leave and log incidents from their phone, on site or at home.
Does it use AI?
Where it saves time. The Slack assistant answers HR questions from your own policies, 1:1 notes are grouped into themes, and exit interviews are summarised for trends. Names are left out of theme reports by default.
Get your next season on Lanyard
We're opening Lanyard to a small group of event and festival companies ahead of the 2027 season. Tell us about your team and we'll be in touch to book a demo.