supplymanagement.com: Time out for the World Cup

Neeta Laing, head of employment at Lewis Hymanson Small offers advice to managers on how to handle employee absence during the World Cup.

Football crazy

The UK is a nation of football fanatics. Football fans spend 800 hours a year backing their team and this figure is even higher during a global football event like the World Cup.

As World Cup fever builds ahead of England’s first game on Saturday 12 June against the USA, managers need to have an agreed HR policy in place in order to handle potential absences from work.

The average length of absence from work in the private sector is 6.4 days per year, whilst public sector employees clock up 9.8 days.[1] However, every two years when either the European championships or the World Cup come around, the levels of unauthorised absence soars.

The legal implications

Employers must manage employee expectations during this global sporting event. As World Cup fever hits your office, you may have to balance employee enjoyment with business output. It is important to create a culture of trust in your workplace so staff feel morally obligated to be truthful. You don’t want to be seen as a killjoy so you could consider introducing flexible working hours for staff, reorganising the shift rota, agreeing to annual leave and even screening matches in your office.

Affects on the bottom line

The consequences for employees, if found to be lying about legitimate absence, can be career damaging. If a member of staff is found to have taken sick leave but it transpires they are suffering with an alcohol-related hangover you may need to take disciplinary procedures. Unauthorised time off can affect the success of a business overall profits and customer service.

To effectively manage short-term absence consult an employment solicitor if an ongoing problem arises. There are several ways to determine if an employee has been truthful about their absence, these include return-to-work interviews, disciplinary procedures for unacceptable absence levels, training line managers in absence management, restricting sick pay and involving occupational health professionals.