Businesses should embrace the Rugby World Cup to avoid unauthorised employee absence, according to the latest survey from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board.
The research suggests that as many as one in seven employees are tempted to skip work during this year’s Rugby World Cup. This means up to 4.4 million of the UK’s 31 million employees may partake in unauthorised absences during September and October this year.
The survey was conducted to determine employee views on international sporting events in the workplace. 2,115 professional took part in the survey as revealed that 60 percent of UK workers intend to watch the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
More than a third (40.7%) of professional plan to tune into fixtures that will be aired during working hours. This number increases for managers (48.5%), who seem reluctant to lead by example and still intend to sneak a peek of the games at their desks. Only 5.8 percent of employees have booked a holiday in advance to watch the games, with one in seven employees planning to skip work during the Rugby World Cup.
In addition to this, the survey also revealed that 61.7 percent of staff believe businesses should show support for international sporting events. 81.8 percent of employees believe sporting events, such as the Rugby World Cup, are good opportunities to bond with staff and colleagues, regardless of whether they enjoy the sport or not. However, only one in ten businesses utilise international events for employee team building.
Lee Biggins, CV-Library’s founder and managing director, comments:
“Major sporting events are often viewed as a potential disruption. However, if tightly managed, a business can use the sense of national sporting pride as an opportunity to increase staff morale and job satisfaction. Planning ahead and considering ways to embrace international events in the workplace, can actually reduce disturbance and avoid staff taking unauthorised leave.”
Amie Filcher is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
