“They think it’s all over … it is now”

In fact, it’s yet to begin. The World Cup “kicks off” on 9 June and for the following four weeks will be watched by millions of people around the country.

Although a recent report suggests that the World Cup will be very positive for the economy, it will almost certainly cause problems for a number of employers, who it is anticipated will have to deal with an increase in employees taking time off due to sickness (aka “pulling a sickie”). According to the CBI, “sickies” accounted for one in eight absences in the UK in 2005 and cost the economy £1.2 billion.

It’s all in the timing… Fortunately for employers (and most employees), most of the games that supporters will want to watch (England, Brazil, Argentina, etc) are being played at 5.00pm or later.

As a result, those who work a “standard” working week (ie from Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm) should not face too much difficulty in being able to watch the more attractive games. However, the problem for employers is that there will be employees who:

• are scheduled to work during the more attractive games (and, in particular, the England games),
• cannot access a TV screen in sufficient time, and/or
• will be the worse for wear from celebrating / drowning their sorrows the night before.

In these cases, it is anticipated that a number of employees will phone in “sick” so that they can stay at home, (or go to the pub), and watch or recover from the games. The question for employers is how to deal with this potential problem.