Over 50% of Brits are not allowed to watch the Olympics at work

As the 28th Summer Olympic Games approaches and more than 10,500 athletes and 3,000 team officials from 199 countries get ready to strike Athens by storm, Monster asked 3,497 Europeans, including 541 Brits, if they are allowed to soak up the Olympic atmosphere and watch the Games during working hours.

The Monster Meter asked: Will you be allowed to watch the Olympics during working hours? 541 Monster.co.uk site visitors responded revealing:

55% (296 votes said) No, watching sports on TV is not allowed under any circumstances

32% (173 votes said) Yes, but only if it’s during my break

8% (42 votes said) Yes, but only the most relevant competitions

6% (30 votes said) Yes, at any time, my boss is a sports fanatic

Despite the image of being a sports-loving nation, the poll highlights that over half of Brits are in actual fact, not allowed to watch the Olympics during the working day at all. British bosses proved to be stringent compared to rest of Europe. Only 6% of Brits make up the lucky few who said they are allowed to watch the Games at any time during the day - this compares to 12% of Europeans. However, this could be due to the fact that many European countries close down during the summer months, whereas Britain plods on with business as usual.

Despite the results reflected in the poll, Andrew Wilkinson CEO Monster Worldwide UK advocates the support of the Games this summer. He says, Monster has such an International workforce that the Olympics is an event that we’re all interested in. It’s especially of interest to our US colleagues who are sponsors of the US Olympic team.

It’s important to boost staff moral as much as possible and giving them access to view significant sporting events is one of the ways we do this. We had Euro 2004 showing for all staff and the company didn’t grind to a halt as people managed their time effectively and got their work done. We will do the same with the Olympics.

The same question was put to a European audience that received a total of 3,497 votes. The results revealed the following:

56% (1961 votes said) No, watching sports on TV is not allowed under any circumstances

21% (734 votes said) Yes, but only if it’s during my break

11% (389 votes said) Yes, but only the most relevant competitions

11% (413 votes said) Yes, at any time, my boss is a sports fanatic

The results show that just under half of Europeans would be able to catch some element of the Games, either specific events that their country participates in or the events that were being televised during their designated breaks.

The Irish proved to be the breeding ground for sports fanatics, who are the most lenient with regards to staff taking time off to watch the games, over one third of respondents said that they are allowed to watch the games at any time of the day.

Germans and Swedes followed shortly behind, proving their dedication to sporting events. Nearly one fifth of nationals from both countries responded that they could watch the games at any time during the working day.

France and Spain are the countries most repressed in the sports arena, with 73% and 79% respectively saying that they are not allowed to watch the Olympics under any circumstances.

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster.com visitors from 19th July to 2nd August 2004. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster, the leading global online careers site and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc., is a series of online polls that gauge users’ opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. Anyone interested in voting in Monster’s current online poll may do so by logging onto