World
Cup to cost British industry billions (Random Stuff News Agency, 6th June 2006)
During the upcoming FIFA World Cup, ‘going to work' is
set to cost the British hospitality industry billions of pounds,
in direct sales losses, productivity and long-term depression. English
football fans working during World Cup matches on their office
computer screens could cost their publicans billions of pounds,
according to a report. Commitment
Whilst reasonable employers understand the need for a sensible
work-life balance, some will be putting unacceptable pressure
on employees to work.
During the last World Cup, some fans were sloping off surreptitiously
to go to work, rather than support their team. "Fun
as it may be, working has to take a back seat during the World
Cup," said employment minister Vanessa McPrand.
Publicans' associations are being encouraged to come up with
creative ways to accommodate the needs of those who cannot tear
themselves from office work. Some bars are installing
banks of desks and PCs so that people can reorganise their documents
and books, drink coffee, and generally shuffle emails around
their inboxes, whilst being available to tear their remaining
hair out as another English penalty goes astray. Action
The BBC has said its policy of making matches available live
on the television "will allow people to keep up with the
very latest action, and to do their job”, but analysts
at Steyer Brannflekz Benk Consultants are not so sure about the "keeping
up with the latest action" part of that. Their study
reckons that if half of all British workers spend just one hour
a day doing work, the British entertainment industry could find
itself four billion pounds (5.8 billion euros) out of pocket. Management
Many pubs are installing special sections for middle managers,
with glass-walled rooms featuring oval tables and projectors. "Whilst
they enjoy the game on the meeting room screen, framed in a PowerPoint
window, they can feel confident that they look important and
productive. This might sound silly to non-managers, but for some
of them, it is their raison d'etre. If they couldn't waste
time on meaningless meetings, they probably wouldn't bother coming
into the pub at all," said Craig Dreeber, expert counsellor
to thousands of ‘serial meeters’. Work rate
During the last World Cup bars and pubs lost millions of drink-hours
to the nation's addiction to work. "It's like a national
frenzy. People can't talk about anything else. On
trains, in the office, the buzzwords are "efficiency," "value-add," "service
delivery," and "problem ownership.“ You
can't blame them, with the media frenzy - most papers have 6
or more pages of Business News, and even serious news programs
can't resist getting in on the act, finding a spurious business
angle on any story they can." Getting a result
McPrand advised employers not to be too harsh on employees who
turn up to work on match days. Be pro-active rather than
reactive. Chat to staff beforehand and let them know they
can set up a screen in the pub to watch the fax machine live,
and new mobile technology will allow them to keep up with all
the latest email action while they watch the big games, which,
after all, is what they should be doing, however much the nation
loves work. Our economy can ill afford to lose the 1.6
billion drink-hours that the 2002 World Cup cost the country," said
the minister.
