All England and Scotland fans and those from other nations, involved or not, will be eagerly awaiting the onset of ‘the greatest football show on earth’ and once again we have the quadrennial quandary – what do we do with those employees whose desire to watch the games impacts on their requirement to attend work?
This years tournament is being held in the USA, with some matches played in Mexico and Canada, the tournament starts on 11th June.
Because of the time difference, kick off times for the group stage games are scheduled in the evening and through the night, so for those working evenings / night shifts watching games may be an issue. Equally, employees attending work during the day may be affected if they have stayed up through the night to watch the football.
We are not going to duplicate all the fixtures, but the initial England and Scotland games are as follows:
- England vs Croatia – Wednesday June 17, Dallas, 9pm (UK time)
- England vs Ghana – Tuesday June 23, Boston, 9pm (UK time)
- Panama vs England – Saturday June 27, New York-New Jersey, 10pm (UK time)
- Haiti vs Scotland – Sunday June 14, Boston, 2am (UK time)
- Scotland vs Morocco – Friday June 19, Boston, 11pm (UK time)
- Scotland vs Brazil – Wednesday June 24, Miami, 11pm (UK time)
Employers may be at risk of ‘absences’; or requests for time off to watch the games.
Remember, it will not only be the England/Scotland games that people want to watch, footie fans from any of the nations who have qualified will be in the same boat.
Two anticipated questions are:
- How do we deal with formal requests for time off to watch a game?
- How do we deal with those who simply do not turn in for work or we suspect have ‘pulled a sickie’?
In addition, there may be issues with those who are overcome by the excitement of it all, celebrating or commiserating to excess and who do not make it into work the day following of a match.
The starting point is to make it clear what your policy will be with regard to this event. However you communicate this (memo, letter, e-mail, intranet, notice board) make sure that all employees know your expectations.
Don’t get caught ‘off-side’ by unplanned absences
You may have holiday rules allowing only a certain number of employees to be off at one time probably on a first come first served basis. If you know that a number of employees are going to want the time off forewarn them that requests must be made in advance and will be dealt with on this basis.
If you have a flexi time system in operation you may wish to review the rules and temporarily amend them to meet the needs of employees who wish to watch a game. You may also wish to introduce a temporary flexible working arrangement if you do not already have one.
Consider allowing radios or TV’s to be on in the workplace (where safety is not compromised and providing you have an appropriate PRS/TV license) but advise staff that this is a privilege that will be withdrawn if abused.
Remember – employers are in no way obliged to implement any changes to the normal working requirements and you would be quite within your rights to hold that line. Our experience of many ‘World Cups’ does indicate that you should anticipate an increase in unplanned absenteeism. If your business can easily accommodate some temporary changes then you may find that the unpredicted might just be avoided.
Dealing with absence – brandishing the red or yellow cards
There will always be a number of employees who decide not to attend work on a match day or the day after the match by phoning in sick or just not turning up.
This behaviour could be deemed as an unauthorised absence and render the employee subject to disciplinary action under your disciplinary procedures. You must advise all employees this is the action you will take should they act in this manner. Minor offences are likely to warrant a ‘yellow card’ warning.
If you suspect an employee is not genuinely ill, then this may move you into serious or gross misconduct ‘red card’ areas. You may require them to produce medical evidence to this effect but remember you may be required to pay for a medical certificate if you insist when the employee has been sick for less than a week. For dishonest absence where the employee has fabricated reasons, you may well end up showing the ‘red card’.
When applying discipline do it consistently and fairly and above all – don’t lose on penalties!
The alcohol effect…
Some people may like to participate in a drink or two while watching the football; or go to a pub/club and watch it live. Match times this year could start late evenings or through the night, which means fans could drink later into the night than usual.
It may be helpful to remind staff:
- They must not come to work under the influence of alcohol.
- That anyone caught drinking at work or under the influence of alcohol in the workplace could be subject to disciplinary procedures.
Whilst you may have a clear no alcohol policy at work; workers may need a reminder.
“But referee….”
- Remember supporting football is not only for males: don’t assume someone is not interested in football because of their gender.
- Remember to be fair to those not interested in football. Don’t give benefits (e.g. additional paid time off) to football supporters, without providing similar benefits to those not interested in football.
Will there be a ‘whistle blower’?
Of course, disgruntled staff or those not interested in football may ‘blow the whistle’ on colleagues who are taking advantage or perhaps, more seriously, if measures you put in place present unacceptable Health and Safety risks.
Either way, be ready to address potential workplace fall out depending on who plays who and where national allegiances lie.