NEWS & EVENTS

With the world cup just over 70 days away, the regions employers have been warned to ensure they have policies in place to avoid a sudden outbreak of  World Cup Fever amongst their workforce.

It is a well known fact that sickness absence increases at the time of major sporting events and employment specialist at City based Roythornes Solicitors say that preparation is the key to effectively managing the problems this may cause.

Phil Cookson, employment specialist said:

The pinch point for many employers will come on Wednesday 23rd June when England play Slovenia in their third and possibly crucial group match, which kicks off at three in the afternoon. Many employees may want to watch or listen to the match live and employers need to take measures to ensure this causes as little disruption as possible.

Phil went on to say that there are a number of options which can be taken including asking employees to take annual leave, looking at flexible working or even allowing staff to watch the football on the premises, but each of these has its dangers.

If you say that staff have to take annual leave, you need to make sure that you set out the rules for requesting the leave as some minimal cover is likely to be required.  Likewise having the facility to watch the match in the workplace may be good for employee relations, but you should be very wary of letting alcohol be present, as this can cause serious problems in terms of staff safety.

You may also want to review your internet usage policy as with live radio available on-line this could be another distraction.

Phils final word of advice was to start planning now.

Many of the large employers such as supermarkets already have their policies in place and are communicating them to staff.  The more warning you can give your employees about the policies you decide on the better.