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How much could employers lose during the world cup?

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The Fifa World cup this year held in Russia has just hit the halfway mark and businesses are bracing themselves for their productivity numbers. In fact, website business advice reports that businesses in the UK could lose as much as £13bn during the 2018 football World Cup because of unauthorised staff absences.

FootballTips.com ran a poll amongst over 2000 UK workers and found that all respondents had at least some interest in the World Cup in Russia and planned to follow the games live. If workers just planned to follow the world cup it would be one thing but when asked how many days they planned to take off from work during the tournament - the average answer was seven days.

While many of the people who want to watch more football said they would take annual leave to do so, there are also those who intend to pull a stickie for extra time off. The average number of unauthorised absences expected for each football fan according to the poll was four days.

Using this data, an average 7 hour day and the average hourly wages in the UK researchers were able to work out how much companies stand to lose while the world is gripped by football fever. And it turns out this isn't the first time. During the World cup four years ago in Brazil, 68% of the same survey respondents said they’d taken time off to watch games and 41% faced disciplinary action when they returned to work.

The top reason for respondents missing work was going to a doctor’s appointment”, with one in three using it as an excuse. A fifth of respondents planned to say they were ill, while 17% would fake a family emergency to get out of work.

Try to stay ahead by embracing the world cup and use this guide; managing your employees during the World Cup to build loyalty, increase engagement and foster a great work environment.

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