If you believe what’s been reported in the press (including this site) Britain’s bosses are in a state of panic about an impending epidemic of 'World Cup fever'.
However, the business owners BusinessWings spoke don't seem to be remotely anxious. In fact, a number believe the tournament can actually boost morale – although the extent to which this happens of course depends on England’s progress.
And with employers increasingly open to making shift patterns more flexible, the World Cup offers an opportunity to experiment with flexible working.
It could be that large corporates have more to worry about. Research from the CBI suggests that staff in small businesses tend to take fewer days off sick than those in large corporates. Employees perhaps feel much guiltier about taking unauthorised time off when they personally know the owner of the company and their importance to the business is proportionately much greater.
A Scottish employer we spoke to points to the fact that a quarter of Scots, whose country failed to qualify for the tournament, are predicted to pull 'sickies'. Unconcerned, however, he believes the World Cup can build morale in the office – presumably when England inevitably bow out of the tournament!
Generally speaking, I think hard-line attitudes from employers tend to have a negative effect and cause people to feel rebellious, so a general ban of any football-watching or score-checking, I suspect, would be counter-productive
Louise Reynolds, Property Venture director
Anyway, SME owners and managers were asked the following:
How worried are you about staff absenteeism during the tournament and what, if anything, have you done to help staff watch England matches or other matches they want to see?
“Five days into my new post as communications director at Clownfish, I can honestly say that staff absenteeism is the last thing on my mind. As a sustainability communications and marketing outfit, I’m proud to say that we are inclusive, boasting supporters for the USA and Spain amongst the English ‘ooligans on the shop floor. But, given the recent form of those teams, I don’t think this office is going to be particularly troubled by the events in South Africa.
“Our chief executive, Diana, is Argentinean – a different matter entirely. Anyone seen her?”
Alex Johnson, Clownfish Marketing communications director
“World cup absenteeism is not a huge issue in our office, as we have quite a creative culture and as we are a digital agency we can easily stream the games online. In fact, it would be wrong of us not too: we also designed a World Cup news player for IMG world which is being used on the likes of Nuts Magazine online and a host of other sites, not to mention our World Cup office sweepstake which I am hoping to win!”
Will Custard, Zeta creative director
“Bidwells are one of the largest firms of chartered surveyors in the east of England. We are mindful that people are interested in the tournament and, where practicable, are providing television viewing for the England match on 23 June when staff will be invited to watch the game in boardrooms/staff rooms. Absenteeism is not a concern to us as we have very low instances of it due to the commitment of our dedicated people.”
Pat Woodfield, Bidwells HR director
"From a business perpective, it makes me a little nostalgic for the 1970s when England could be relied upon not to qualify! But I don't really expect much of a problem and events like this are a chance to show some flexibility on hours - there are often times when we need our staff to go beyond the strict line of duty."
Mike McHugh, Hyco Manufacturing managing director
“Clark Holt are not worried about staff absenteeism. We have made no special arrangements and we do not have a TV in the office (contrary to what the TV licensing people appear to believe).
“If people want to watch the matches they are welcome to take the time off as holiday. Incidentally, in the office sweepstake the senior partner has drawn New Zealand (2500-1) and the deputy Senior Partner has drawn Serbia (66-1) so the final is unlikely to be an undue distraction...”
Jeremy Holt, Clark Holt
"Even though Scotland won't be a fielding a team in this year's World Cup, many Scots will still want to watch the games. So much so that research suggests a quarter of the Scottish workforce will pull a sickie, costing the economy up to £274m – that's over 2.5 million working days being lost.
"Speaking to fellow business owners, some are worried about the effect absenteeism could have on their business. Personally, I don't see what the fuss is about.
“It's only a couple of hours out of the day, so for the big games we're going to set up a big screen and let anyone who wants to watch it go ahead – on the proviso that they make up the extra hours at some other point in the week. Staff will also have the option to work flexible hours for the odd day or two.
"The World Cup as is a huge international event and watching the odd game or two will simply help to motivate the team and build morale in the office."
Garry McLean, Indicia Training managing director
"I've said to my team if they come in 30 minutes early and take short lunch we can all go to the pub over the road to watch it at 3pm. Good for team moral, no chance of absenteeism and I also get to watch the game!"
Anna Thomas, Factoring Quote UK
“Happy staff make happy companies, which in turn makes successful results. Any company worried about staff absence should consider these things.
“Firstly if an employee is so disengaged with their job that they genuinely consider skiving off to watch a football match then the employer needs to consider the relationship it has with its employees. Engaged, enthusiastic staff will naturally suggest ways of bringing the football into the workplace, rather than ducking it to get out.
“Managers and business owners with strong HR strategies and targeted development programmes will be able to positively gauge the level of employee engagement by their absence stats over the coming weeks.
“Secondly, if you think that your staff would love to see the matches then let them. You will end up with a great working atmosphere and some free team-building. A few hours will be all it takes to get better morale results than that expensive two-day pole-climbing, corporate event that was a waste of money and time a few years ago.
“Employers have a great opportunity to engage their people. Will they take advantage of it?”
Liz Villani, Courageous Success founder
“At Citrix Online employees across all departments are actively encouraged to use our simple-to-use secure online collaboration tools such as GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC to enable them to work remotely. This increased flexibility means that employees company-wide are already working from home at least one day each week.
“At Citrix Online each individual is able to organise their working week in the way which works best for them, with no loss of productivity or operational effectiveness. And this ability to ‘work from anywhere, with anyone and at anytime’ means that the broader business is not adversely affected when staff are away from their normal place of work.
“Due to this flexibility, we do not believe that our business will be impacted by any increase in staff absenteeism as a result of the World Cup.”
Andrew Millard, Citrix Online director of marketing and e-commerce EMEA
“We're not worried about staff absenteeism. We've told staff what we expect of them, which is to attend work as usual unless they wish to take time off as annual leave.
“We're a small business so it should be straightforward. We've made an exception of the England versus Slovenia game, which is in working hours, where we will allow staff to finish early to watch the game as a gesture of goodwill – and because we all want to support England!”
Ciaron Dunne, Broadband Genie co-founder
“Worried? Not a chance. When England is doing well, there is a spring in people’s step. You can feel it in the workplace.
“Even if England doesn’t do well, the British have a great ‘grin and bear it’ attitude. The World Cup happens so rarely and creates such a great vibe; it’s about embracing that energy and getting it to spill from employees into their jobs.”
Richard Banks, www.careerplan4.me co-founder
“I tend to work a lot with women, so the World Cup is not such a big issue, although that is not to say there aren’t female football supporters about. Also, most of my work gets done on a contract basis, so there’s much more of a pay-as-you-go philosophy.
“Deadlines might need to be negotiated for delivery of work, but then that’s always a consideration. I expect, however, because I am dealing with colleagues in Europe, that they may not be as available or as easily contactable.
“Generally speaking, I think hard-line attitudes from employers tend to have a negative effect and cause people to feel rebellious. So a general ban of any football-watching or score-checking, I suspect, would be counter-productive.
“Communicating that client delivery and deadlines ought not be missed or suffer, would be better and then individuals should manage their time to make sure work commitments are still at the forefront. It is worth remembering many clients are watching the World Cup and it always helps build rapport if staff and colleagues can talk about things of client interest that are happening in the World. The World Cup is, after all, the biggest global sporting event.”
Louise Reynolds, Property Venture director
