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Heads up, the upcoming football and cricket fixtures may affect work productivity

The UEFA Champions League final between Tottenham and Liverpool is scheduled for 2 June (to be broadcast in Singapore at 3am), while straight after that the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup will take place in France from 7 June-7 July.

This week itself, cricket fans can look forward to the more-than-a-month-long ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 being held across England and Wales from 24 May-14 July (to be broadcast in Singapore at 5:30pm and 8:30pm depending on the match schedules).

With these cricket and football specials around the corner, we can certainly anticipate productivity to take somewhat of a hit - what with staff wanting to rush back home on time, staying up late to enjoy both innings, and of course, the water cooler discussions the day after.

In fact, according to research by Expedia Group, Brand Expedia and Hotels.com, three in four (76%) of the 500 football fans surveyed in Singapore have planned holidays around sporting events, and nearly half (46%) have changed  travel plans to ensure that they don’t miss a match.

Per season, about 63% of football fans in Singapore travel out to watch between one to three football matches per season. Additionally, 17% would travel more than 11 hours to watch their favourite football teams up close (with Manchester United’s Old Trafford voted as the most popular stadium to visit).

So what can we as leaders and managers do to keep employees focused on work, without shutting them out from some of the most watched sporting events? Here are two tips compiled by Human Resources.

Plan in advance

May-July typically feature not just major sporting events, but also school holidays in most parts of the region, so planning in advance is imperative.

Work schedules, client submissions, internal deadlines, and must-attend meetings all have to be calendared in advance so employees know when it's okay and not okay to take leave.

Even so it is inevitable for work-leave schedules to conflict, in which case it important to ensure clear and measureable KPIs for team members to follow, thus encouraging job sharing, flexible timings, and remote working might help tide over this period.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Being seen as the office policeman is no fun, so don't forget how much fun it really is to have major sporting events taking place - all the cheering, jabs, and post-match analysis (read, gossip) that everyone takes part in.

So if you've got a TV in the office, set it to the match highlights during lunch hour so employees can catch up and share more. Matches held on Fridays would be a good time to host office screenings for those who are interested to watch in a big group, which could then spillover to team dinner afterwards.

Most of all, enjoy the games and may the best teams win!

 

Photo / 123RF GIF / Giphy

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