World Cup Fever - An employerís headache?

By Frances Strickley - Thomas Eggar

Few of us will be unaware that the football World Cup kicks off on Friday 9 June. The issue for employers is that the tournament has the potential to be a distraction for employees until the final on Sunday 9 July. Employers should therefore be ready to deal with this to minimise the effect on their business. It is highly likely that employees will be distracted by matches and in addition may find it very stressful to work if England advances to the latter stages of the tournament. Computer networks will be affected by staff keeping track of their team using online score cards and live commentary on the internet causing slow systems and a drop in productivity throughout he competition period. In a recent survey employees admitted that one in seven have thrown ía sickieí during major sporting events. A further survey shows that men are the worse culprits with more than half as many men admitting to ískivingí than women. However, if handled correctly, the World Cup need not lead to an increase in absenteeism and a fall in productivity. Conversely, sporting events have been proven to increase workforce morale which is vital for the success of any company. Rules of the Game Before considering the impact that the World Cup may have, it is important to remind ourselves of the relevant legal issues:

- Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), employees have the right to take up to four weeks> í> paid holiday. Employees may also be entitled to additional holiday - under their contract of employment. The contract may also set out the way in which holiday is taken.

- Employers have the right to refuse an employeeís request for holiday provided they follow the statutory counter-notice procedure.

- Under the WTR, employees have the right to a daily rest period of at least 20 minutes if the working day is longer than six hours. It is usual for an employee to have a daily rest period of one hour in an eight hour day under their contract of employment.

- If employees are off sick, providing they comply with the relevant notification requirements, they will normally be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (providing that the employee has been off sick for at least four days) and any additional contractual sick pay set out in their employment contract/staff manual.

- If an employee is off sick, they may self-certificate for up to 7 calendar days (in other words they are not obliged to supply their employer with a doctorís certificate until the eighth day of their absence due to illness).

- An employer has a duty to take reasonable care of the employeeís safety and working conditions

- Any disciplinary procedures applicable to the employees.

Recommendations to avoid the off work trap
The best advice for employers is to adopt a flexible, practical and pro active approach to the World Cup. Employers can of course insist on all employees working normal hours, with disciplinary sanctions if they do not, but this may lead to increased absence and/or the morale of the workforce could be severely damaged if a heavy-handed approach is adopted. We recommend that a combina> tion of tackling the issue early and working with employees will be crucial in minimising the impact that the World Cup may have on levels of absence and productivity.

Holidays
Encourage staff to put in holiday requests for the World Cup period early to avoid a last minute rush and potential disappointment amongst employees. In addition employers should anticipate a large number of requests for the World Cup period and decide in advance on what basis the requests will be granted, e.g. in accordance with the normal holiday procedure, or first come first served. Employers may need to prepare now for an understaffed workforce during the World Cup period.

Breaks and Rest Periods
Many employees, doing their utmost to get home in time for the 6 oíclock kick off, may request to work through their lunch hour in order to leave an hour early. Often employees may suggest coming in to work an hour early in order to get home to watch the key match. Employers should remember that they should treat all staff equally and apply the same rules to all employees to avoid potential discrimination. Alternatively employees may request to take their break at 2.00pm in line with the kick off time for some of the earlier matches. Again, employers need to plan for this as this may result in an under-staffed office in the early afternoon.

Pints rather then Points?
Half of the employees surveyed said that they would like to have an alcoholic drink whilst watching the games. Employees arriving drunk at work could create health and safety issues for the employer in addition to reducing productivity. Employers must ensure that a work place alcohol policy is in place to deal with such a situation and that employees are aware of the policy in advance of the World Cup period.

Hosting viewings
To avoid staff absenteeism or lengthy lunch breaks, employers could consider screening popular matches at the work place - this should minimise disruption and avoid employees being attracted to the nearest big screen pub. This will not only boost staff morale, but ensure that staff do not get drunk in the daytime thus keeping disruption, and the need to undertake time consuming disciplinary proceedings, to a minimum.

- If employers intend to screen the matches they should;

- Check that they have a valid TV licence allowing the showing of a match.

- Make sure that they know when matches, especially popular ones, are being played. For more information go to: www.thefa.com/WorldCup2006 or www.fifaworldcup.com;

- Ensure that they are in compliance with Health and Safety Regulations including conducting relevant risk assessments and the employer> í> s duty to take reasonable care of the employee> í> s safety and working conditions. Enforce alcohol and equal opportunities policies and remind employees of the disciplinary procedure so as to prevent disruption.

- Adopt a clear policy for the company which is communicated to all members of staff. The policy must be applied uniformly to all staff to avoid discrimination.

- Employers should be aware that they could be held as vicariously liable for their employee> í> s offensive or racial comments whilst watching a game which could result in the harassment of a fellow employee. Employers must ensure that they have a policy in place which prevents such language and behaviour in the work place and inform employees that this will be enforced, as usual, throughout the World Cup period; and

- When games are over employees are still likely to be distracted and so you may consider a short cooling off period to allow employees to wind down and discuss the game.

Conclusion
We recommend that employers take a firm but flexible approach - perhaps tell employees that they are happy for them to work flexible hours to enable them to watch their home countryís matches and certain other key matches but that any working time which is taken up in doing so should be made up that day/week. Note the WTR and try to ensure that employees do tak> e a rest period. They should also make it clear that any unauthorised absence or inability to work because of excess alcohol will, as usual, not be tolerated and, if appropriate, will be dealt with under the usual disciplinary procedures.

By Frances Strickley - Thomas Eggar

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