World Cup sickness…
Posted on 07. Jun, 2010 by Handbaglady in Fun stuff, News
As England gears up for the start of the World Cup this Friday, there are a lot of very excited people across the country (including in my house!)
Everywhere you go, there are cut price booze offers, flags on cars and pubs, work sweepstakes, Sky HD offers etc etc. The expectations for the England team are, as always, enormous and the country has been struck down with the usual World Cup madness.
At a client meeting last week, one of the meeting rooms was being set up as a World Cup viewing room for the team there to enjoy the games that fall in working hours; the South African time zone means that the majority of the games this year are at convenient times for evening viewing but this struck me as a really sensible idea especially when reading an article in the Daily Telegraph this morning which stated that employers are bracing themselves for a rise in staff absences when the World Cup gets under way.
The article went on to detail that the CBI has calculated that the UK economy lost 27 million working days due to bogus sick days last year, costing the economy £2.5 billion. The group’s survey undertaken in partnership with Pfizer stated that employees took 180 million sick days overall – the bulk of them genuine – and this averaged 6.4 days each. I have to say this isn’t reflective of the team here.
However the good news was that the absence rate was the lowest since the survey began in 1987 and down slightly from 6.7 days per employee in 2007, the previous surveyed year. It will be interesting to see what impact the World Cup has on next year’s figures!
neilcrump
07. Jun, 2010
We are all certainly getting excited about the World Cup – see this link for the latest musing: http://auroracommsblog.com/world-cup-fever-in-camden/
Interestingly all bosses should take a look at this great interactive fixtures lists for a time check :+) : http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html
Handbaglady
09. Jun, 2010
In The Times today (9 June), there is an article in Business Dashboard which states that according to a Chartered Management Institute survey of company managers and directors – the group fear that the World Cup will cost the country £1 billion in lost working hours!
But on the positive side, nearly half of the employers interviewed thought that the tournament has morale-boosting potential.
2 days to go…..!