The City Keeps its Eye on the Ball

A survey from eFinancialCareers.com ñ the online City recruitment firm ñ has confirmed what everybody knows but does not want to admit ñ football is eating into work.

According to the findings, 66.5% openly admit they have been distracted by the World Cup for a minimum of an hour, with over 1 in 3 (37.2%) confirming that they spend up to 10 hours a week catching up on football news at work.

Ian Brown, editor-in-chief of eFinancialCareers.com, commented:

ìIn 2002, everyone expected workers to take time off as the World Cup was being played in Japan. Absenteeism was unlikely to cause any major problems this time around, but the worry now revolves around entertaining and gambling websites ñ with City football fans spending time and money online rather than working.î

Below is a chart of average hours per week the World Cup will distract:

Hours - Percentage
0 - 33.50%
1 to 2 - 12.40%
3 to 5 - 10.40%
6 to 9 - 6.50%
10 - 37.20%

Ian Brown added:

ìWith World Cup finals near and Wimbledon having started this week ñ there is plenty to further distract the finance professionals. As the markets continue to under-perform, the World Cup could prove an expensive fillip.î

The eFinancialCareers.com poll was conducted via the internet over a 2 week period from June 12th 2006 to 26th June 2006 ñ with 402 respondents taking part in the poll.