This year’s winter World Cup is a first in the sporting calendar. The opening game between hosts Qatar and Ecuador kicks off the tournament on Sunday 20 November, with the final taking place just a week before Christmas on Sunday 18 December. Given the time difference between Qatar and the UK numerous games will be taking place during the normal working day for many people. In the opening groups stages games will kick off at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm UK time. For example, England’s first match against Iran starts at 1pm on Monday 21 November so may disrupt some businesses.
But what does the World Cup and indeed other sporting events have to do with HR and employment though? Well, there are a few things employers may need to consider.
Many employers have a diverse workforce and as well as staff supporting England and Wales you may have supporters from other different countries who want to book annual leave for game days, meaning you to have to deal with an influx of holiday requests for the same day. Make sure you have a fair, robust way of dealing with holiday requests which is applied consistently. You might also want to consider allowing shift swaps, use of TOIL, later start times, earlier finish times or unpaid leave if appropriate as by this time of year many staff will have already used up their annual leave entitlement, again try to be fair and consistent to everyone including those who aren’t interested in football. As the tournament progresses and teams qualify for knock out games, requests for leave are also likely to be made at shorter notice so flexibility may be needed to accommodate these requests. If you have to decline some holiday requests it is a good idea to keep a note of them and then double check if someone who has had a leave request declined actually comes into work or is struck down by a coincidental illness that day. Make sure that you hold return to work interviews for all absences, employees are less likely to pull a sickie if they know that they have to sit down with their manager and look them in the eye at a return to work meeting as this could be a disciplinary offence.
Some people like to drink excessive amounts of alcohol during sporting events, which could lead to increased sickness absence rates for the morning after, so make it clear to employees from the outset that it isn’t acceptable to overindulge and not turn up for work the next day, it is all not appropriate to attend work whilst drunk. Consider if you can allow them to take holidays for that “day after the night before” and check your sickness absence policy, making sure you have triggers in place for absence management.
Another thing you may want to revisit is your internet policy – employees who are in work during matches may spend more time on the internet checking the scores, or even trying to watch the game. If you have a big football fan contingent in your teams, you might want to consider installing a television in a suitable place and allowing employees to take time out to watch their team, or offering some flexible working around games (although make sure this is available to all so you don’t discriminate against non-football fans). Some people also like to bet on matches and will use apps on their phone or use their work computer to do this which again will take time and concentration away from their job and is not an authorised use of company property so it’s worth a reminder about this.
Keep an eye and ear out too for banter between opposing team supporters, friendly conversation is fine, but can quickly get out of hand when people are passionate about their team. Make sure you nip any offensive behaviour in the bud.
Above all, set some friendly ground rules in place now and everyone should be able to enjoy the tournament (even if they don’t want to watch it and it still doesn’t come home) – you can also apply those rules to any other major sporting events throughout the year.
Do you have questions about fair ways of dealing with multiple holiday requests, unauthorised absences or banter?
Give us a call at CUBE HR on 01282 678321, we’ll be happy to advise you and we have policies and templates available to meet every HR need.
Why not check out our blog on a similar topic What Should Your Absence Policy Cover?
We also have a YouTube channel with loads of handy videos.
