With World Cup fever growing in the run up to the South Africa Tournament, almost one in four employees is planning on watching football matches during work hours.
According to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers, 53% of working males and one in five females (21%) intend to watch the 2010 World Cup matches scheduled to take place during office hours as they happen, Overall, 39% of workers said they intend to watch these games.
The poll of 1,000 staff shows while some employees (14%) will be watching at work with permission from their employer, a minority (5%) intends to watch without permission or call in sick. Employers can also expect significant numbers of staff to take annual leave (9%) or use flexible working policies to take time off (11%).
Whilst The World Cup highlights a problem for employers, it also offers an opportunity to build goodwill. Placing televisions in the workplace will not only decrease absenteeism, but will build good good will between employer and employee, in addition to rasining team morale.
The AP Partnership Ltd would also recommend that employers send a memo to all employees stating that all time off should be booked in via the appropriate channels and that any sickness that coincides with The World Cup will be investigated.
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