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How are you coping with World Cup sickness?
Added: (Wed Jun 21 2006)
Current research is suggesting that absence at work could increase by 20% for every England game, and England matches won't be the only time when people are absent as other nations’ progress is followed as well. It is estimated that June and July will be the least productive months of 2006 (source: Fenman).
ACAS, the arbitration service has published a ‘World Cup 2006 FAQs’ on their website at www.acas.org.uk. The common problems they cite include dealing with absences that appear not to be for genuine illness, treating non-football fans and non-English nationals fairly, being aware of potential sex discrimination issues around workplace cover, and the downloading of software on to work PCs to watch World Cup matches at workstations.
Their solutions are two-pronged:
Be flexible but firm - include providing access to a TV so that employees are not tempted to resort to deviant methods, building in some extra flexibility during the month of the World Cup, around start or finish times, and allowing staff to make up the time.
Remind staff of policies for taking time off when not genuinely ill, for ‘alcoholic drinking’, and for use of the internet during work time for non-work related activity. Also, treating absences and breaches of procedures fairly, such as holding 'return to work' interviews to reduce short term absenteeism, are the effective ways to reinforce your absence control procedure.
The Centre for Applied Emotional Intelligence offers a more attitudinal-based rather than rule-based approach to handling World Cup fever.
- football is the national game so it’s good to be supporting our national team and those who are passionate about the game
- the company needs to maintain a high level of performance so that we can delight our customers and provide our employees with salaries and benefits
- so let’s work together to achieve both and to create a win-win
Geoff Atkinson, Chief Executive of South Somerset Homes is a boss who knows the value of an emotionally intelligent attitude towards the World Cup.
”The principle is simply that the organisation should come out and confirm
that anybody who wants to watch their own team’s games can and that they are trusted to do their duty either side of that. And if the kick-off is during
the middle of the day, put up a giant screen in the training room.
Therefore, in absence management terms, there is no need to manage the
situation because we have removed the problem.
This is exactly what we have done from the start of the World Cup!”
END
Editors Notes
Geoff Atkinson, Chief Executive of South Somerset Homes can be contacted by telephone on 01935 404510 and by email at Geoff.Atkinson@ssh.co.uk
Conference: Applied Emotional Intelligence – Maximising Your Organisation’s Potential. Wednesday 20th September 2006 at the Marriott Hotel, Windsor/Slough. www.emotionalintelligence.co.uk/conference
The Centre for Applied Emotional Intelligence is a training organisation promoting practitioner excellence and the attitudinal approach to the development of emotional intelligence. Tim Sparrow, the Centre’s founding director is co-author of the ‘ie’, ‘te’ and ‘oe’ emotional intelligence diagnostic tools, and creator of the 9 month practitioner Certificate in Applied Emotional Intelligence, the only in-depth programme of its kind in the world. The management team includes directors of JCA (Occupational Psychologists) Limited (co-authors with Tim Sparrow of the Effectiveness Questionnaires™), and Activate Training, pioneers in the development of EI-based experiential learning.
Centre for Applied Emotional Intelligence, Buckholdt House, The Street, Frampton on Severn, Glos GL2 7ED. Tel: 01452 74 11 06 Fax: 01452 74 15 20 Email: info@appliedei.co.uk Web: www.emotionalintelligence.co.uk