- 10 million workers will up their game today ahead of England's match versus Trinidad and Tobago, boosting productivity by 27.7%

- Six million employees (24%) will be working harder, smarter and faster throughout the World Cup


England's dedication to England's World Cup bid will boost Britain's GDP by 1.83 billion as employees up and down the country raise productivity by an average of 11.7% across the World Cup period. That's the finding of new research from Vodafone UK, which firmly gives the boot to the notion that Britain will become a nation of slackers and 'sick-notes' during the World Cup, with six million having devised ways to work smarter and not miss a game during the whole tournament.

Research shows that the big priority for 10 million workers will be England's game against Trinidad and Tobago, which kicks off at 5pm on June 15th. But throwing a sickie is the last thing on workers' minds as many say they are five times more likely to work smarter than call in sick or create a fictitious appointment.

Getting to work earlier (28%), missing lunch hours (23%), putting a stop to gossip for the day (9%), taking extra work home the night before and working remotely (16%) are just some of the schemes British employees have lined up so they don't miss the crucial game. A startling 50% of 'die-hard' World Cup fans will get in early and miss lunch. Overall productivity will see a boost of 27.7% on the 15th June. Yorkshire and the North East lead the productivity drive as they come out as the most dedicated region (see table below).

Mark Bond, director of enterprise marketing for Vodafone UK, comments: "The idea of throwing a sickie, or leaving a job half done to get to the pub in time for the match has certainly been overturned by this research. British workers are conscientious and just as dedicated to getting the job done as they are to their team. If anything this provides employers with an encouraging sign, that given the right motivation and flexibility, employees can be trusted to manage their own time, and be more productive and focused on the job in hand."

Mark continues: "This research should give employers the confidence that there is no need to be scared to give employees mobile email, 3G mobile connect cards, or even built in 3G laptops and, soon to be launched, 3G broadband."

Research also showed that most employees say they could save themselves an extra four hours a week if they followed their World Cup time management tactics all the time. For some employees who work a traditional 9-5 this could amount to the equivalent of an average holiday allowance (26 days). London is the region where employees are most likely to be productive, saving as much as 32 days over the year.