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WC may affect productivity as it overlaps with working hours

June 22, 2018 00:00:00


FE Sport Desk

A total of thirty-two teams, 64 matches and nearly four weeks of football frenzy - the FIFA World Cup provides all the thrills that a football fan will need. For employers, meanwhile, it will be a month where productivity at work could take a hit daily as World Cup games overlap with working hours.

Based on an online survey of 8,000 professionals in the region, GulfTalent has come up with the details of how the FIFA World Cup 2018 will affect employee productivity.

According to GulfTalent, an online recruitment portal, staff productivity is set to see a dip not just in the Middle East, but across the world.

To calculate the number of productive hours at risk in this year's tournament, Indian English-language daily newspaper Business Standard assume local office hours are between 9:00am and 5:00pm and that 50 per cent of each country's workforce will be interested in watching the games.

The newspaper estimate that a total of $14.5 billion in gross domestic product worldwide could be at risk in the first two weeks of the tournament.

Of the employees surveyed across the region, GulfTalent revealed that 28 per cent or more than one in four, admitted planning to watch some of the games during working hours.

Almost two-thirds of professionals surveyed said they will watch the late matches even if it meant sleeping late.

About 74 per cent of them said they would simply cut down on their sleep in order to get to work on time. A further 17 per cent would go to work late, while 8 per cent would take the next day off as annual leave, and one per cent said they would call in sick.

The survey found that many managers also intended to watch the games during working hours. Within this segment, senior executives and company directors registered the highest rate, with 32 per cent of them planning to watch the games during working hours, as compared to an overall staff average of 28 per cent.

Accountants were found more likely than others to secretly watch the games at their desk. Customer service professionals in comparison were more likely than others to take a day of annual leave, while civil engineers were more likely to leave work early to watch the games.

Based on GulfTalent's survey findings, 92 per cent of employees in the region plan to watch at least some of the games. On a gender basis, the percentage is slightly lower among women at 84 per cent, as compared with 93 per cent of men.


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