Kick-off: Tackling employment issues during the World Cup

The World Cup is currently underway in Qatar, and many of the games will fall within normal working hours here in England. The World Cup matches are being played during November and December with England's group games all taking place during November. It's perhaps therefore to be expected that some employees may be asking for time off over the next several weeks or could potentially be turning up to work a little weary the day after match day!

The tournament is likely to throw up a number of interesting employee relations/employee engagement issues, particularly given the controversy surrounding the Qatar setting (including human rights violations and the treatment of women and the LGBTQ+ community). Employers will therefore need to be sensitive to the fact that most people will have a personal view on this, and some employees may not endorse and/or be as supportive of the tournament as they might otherwise have been due to the setting. Equally of course, it is also important to bear in mind that not all employees share a passion for the beautiful game and so striking a balance that is inclusive and which doesn’t ostracise elements of the workforce is vitally important.

It’s well-established that employer engagement around events such as the World Cup has the potential to benefit staff morale, productivity, and aid employee relations. Quite how far employers are willing to go however will depend on the nature and specific requirements of their business, therefore it would be sensible for employers to clearly set out their position as this will be vital to minimising issues.

What should employers consider during the World Cup?

What approach are you going to take?

Arnold H. Glasow was once famously quoted as saying "In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are". Making clear decisions around how the tournament sits alongside work commitments and communicating those decisions/expectations to the workforce means that employers can strike a positive balance between getting work done without the football acting as a distraction or a cause of problems, for example areas where clarity can be provided (ideally having first engaged in a degree of consultation with the workforce) would perhaps include:

• What flexibility will be available to staff?
• What are the limits to ensure that work still gets done?
• Will there be an expectation to make time up?
• Will matches be screened in the workplace?
• Will staff be permitted to wear their home nation's football kit on match day and/or decorate the office with flags/memorabilia?
• What is the expectation/policy around alcohol?

The benefits of being flexible

Most employers will want to support a positive, inclusive workplace culture therefore ultimately, demonstrating some general flexibility in order to accommodate people's desire to engage with the World Cup may well end up being the lesser of two evils and go some way to avoiding issues such as sick leave, staff attending work under the influence of alcohol and detrimental impact on productivity. Employers should make clear what behaviours are acceptable and expect that staff will follow the rules.

First post covid World Cup

Consideration should also be given to those who are now working from home or who request to work from home on match day. Should employers communicate differently with these people? Should employers monitor them if they don't ordinarily? In circumstances where working from home provides a greater deal of flexibility, employers might want to take the view that so long as the work gets done, then they'd be happy to agree for staff to perhaps take longer lunch breaks, start earlier/finish later, make up time another day etc.

Handling possible conduct issues

Suspicious sickness absence, misconduct inside and outside of work, failure to follow normal policies (i.e., equality and diversity, sickness reporting/holiday requests) are all potentially issues employers will need to be alive to.

• Suspicious sickness absence - Employers shouldn’t assume and/or jump to the conclusion that just because an employee is sick on (or the day after) match day, it's an automatic conduct issue. Employers will still need to ensure that they carry out a reasonable investigation and bear in mind that sickness absence doesn’t necessarily mean an employee can't leave home.
• Misconduct inside and outside of work - The obvious ones here are skipping work (AWOL), turning up for work drunk, substance misuse, discriminatory behaviour and internet/computer misuse. Employers can be vicariously liable for the actions of their employees whilst they are in work, therefore employers should make clear what behaviours are acceptable and what are not and what the likely consequences are if there is unacceptable conduct.
• Discrimination - People can of course be very passionate about supporting their home team (often by seeking to put down or criticise the opposition), however the fact that lines are essentially drawn on grounds of nationality means that there is clear scope for a risk of people overstepping the line with regard to showing respect for other races and cultures. Healthy banter at work can be beneficial to the business, helping build team spirit and morale however employers are well advised to remind employees to not have jokes based on nationality/supporting certain teams/players and reinforce that there is a clear expectation that all others are treated with dignity and respect and that discriminatory behaviour (in particular on grounds of race, sex, religion and sexual orientation) will not be tolerated even if intended in good humour.