Time off to watch the Footie? Work and the World Cup

The World Cup is once again in the limelight... and it doesn't feel like four years since the last one! As employees all over England begin the countdown to the excitement, employers are feeling an all-too familar sense of dread, wondering just how the footie might impact their business. According to The Chartered Management Institute, the World Cup could cost businesses an uncool £1 billion, with SMEs losing £400m of this. Ouch. They also say that 54% of employers are worried that online coverage will distract their workers, 53% fear that chatting about the matches will stop people working, and 40% suspect that sickies will be pulled to allow their employees the time to watch the beautiful game. And that's before people start chatting to their friends on Facebook or Twitter about the footie, rather than catching up with their work. According to a survey by Blue Coat Systems, 54% of workers plan to watch the World Cup AT work - even though an equal number of IT managers reckon this should be banned.

The HR Dept (www.hrdept.co.uk) are warning employers to watch out for higher levels of absence, or hangovers caused from the previous evenings celebrations - or commiserations! Last year the UK economy lost £2.5 billion on 27 million bogus sickies... even with no World Cup to encourage them! Sky News reports that 1 in 7 people plan to watch all games this year, compared with under 13% for the 2006 competition, so it seems that some of the worries are justified. HR Dept suggest introducing some sort of flexibility to minimise disruption. Asda, for example, are offering a shift swap system whereby staff can negotiate their own shift exchanges with colleagues who don't want to watch a match (who on earth wouldn't want to watch?!) Call Centre Helper are urging employers to plan ahead. Suggestions include screening matches at work, offering flexible working, encouraging people to use annual leave and using watching matches at work as an incentive. Watching the game together can, apparently, bond team members... assuming they all support the same side!

Director Magazine (www.director.co.uk) debates whether EXTRA time off should be given to footie fans during this competition. But should we really be rewarded for preferring to watch the World Cup, rather than go to work? Professor Gary Cooper of Lancaster University Management School says YES. He claims that this will keep people focused, encourage autonomy and bonding, stimulate discussions and show employees that they are trusted to work hard in recompense, rather than be micro managed. Hilary Griffin, Professional Support Lawyer at Clyde & Co., says NO. She feels that it would be unfair on non-football fans as well as those who prefer other sporting events, and that employers would be better off encouraging holiday time is taken, giving time off later as a reward, implementing a policy on internet access (perhaps some viewing if work is made up later). What a spoilsport.

Employers also have to be careful about the risks of discrimination. Why should someone be allowed time off to watch an World Cup match, for example, but not Wimbledon? If people are using holiday time just to watch England play, then those who request leave to watch other teams must also be given preference. With the World Cup being such a huge deal for us here in the UK - as well as everywhere else - it seems mean not to allow people to join in wholeheartedly with the celebrations, but at the same time is a bit impractical. It's just a good thing that most of the games are in the evenings and weekends this time round, so the office workers are only at risk of being intensely hungover rather than skiving to actually watch the matches, I suppose. Unlucky for the evening workers, then - those who cannot take annual leave to watch will have to put a cunning plan in place to get their footie fix.

Personally, I'm only in it for the obligatory beer, but have been forced by my kids to display England flags from every orifice of my house and car. I may as well bother to watch some of the footie now, I suppose - nobody wants to be left out, work or no work.

Demand for business oriented IT professionals high for 2010...

Happy New Year to you all! Assuming the snow hasn't dampened your fervour for work, I hope 2010 will be a good year for you career-wise, whether you are happy to stay where you are or preferring to move off to pastures green(er). If you are thinking of (or have already started) looking for a change of scenery in the IT sector, then you may find things have changed - it seems there is a shift in the types of skills employers are now seeking from their technical experts going foward into 2010 and beyond.

According to an article in Computer World, technical skills are no longer the be all and end all of a techie's experience and abilities. Whilst security, virtualization and cloud computing are in the most highly sought after skillset, there is now the real requirement for industry specific knowledge. Following last year's recession and the impact on IT jobs, businesses are again taking on staff and rebuilding their departments. What's changed is that they are now seeking business-facing people - IT and business are no longer separate entities of the same organisation, and IT professionals are expected to use their market expertise to boost the all important bottom line. Vertical industry knowledge, especially in healthcare, finance and insurance, will be especially useful, as will experience in business processing and re-engineering. The most important skill, it seems, is to have a combination of deep technical skills combined with project management and business knowledge. Sounds like companies are looking to combine three roles into one, and as competition is high, they will probably be able to attract candidates with the desired depth and breadth of experience. The question is, will they be prepared to pay a premium for it? Only time will tell.