Posted Date: 13th June 2024
We will see England face Serbia on 16 June at 8pm in their first game of the UEFA Championship (the Euros). Amongst the excitement, there may also be some challenges for line managers, particularly for future games scheduled earlier in the day.
Holiday requests
England’s second game against Denmark is scheduled for 5pm on Thursday 20 June. If contractual working hours are during this time, or employees are normally commuting home, you may receive a number of half day annual leave requests to ensure they are ready at home to watch the game. You may also receive a number of requests for the day after a match, as employees hope for a late night celebrating a win. Therefore it is worth considering:
Can business operations handle last minute holiday requests or half day requests? What does your holiday policy state? You do not have to accept a holiday request if you cannot accommodate it.
How will you handle multiple requests? Does your holiday policy state first come first served?
Increased sickness and other absences
If annual leave requests are declined, you may find there is an increase in the number of sickness absences.
Unauthorised absence, where the employee hasn’t followed procedure, is likely to be viewed as a disciplinary offense in your absence policy.
If you have ‘reasonable belief’, that an absence reason isn’t genuine, disciplinary action could be taken. However, you would need to tread carefully in this area for sickness absence, as an employee doesn’t usually need to provide a fit note for absences under five working days. Please speak with your HR Advisor should you have any concerns in this absence.
Consider allowing employees to watch games during worktime
If games are scheduled during working hours, could you allow employees to watch the game on a screen in the office (bearing in mind you may need a workplace tv licence)? Although you will lose a level of productivity for the length of the game, it may be better solution to numerous holiday requests and absence issues, and could result in a boost in employee morale.
Alternatively, for games such as the England vs Denmark at 5pm, could you accommodate an earlier start time and earlier finish time for those wanting to watch it?
Bear in mind, that there may be employees who are avid supporters of other sports such as Women’s football, who may then feel that they should be allowed flexibility to watch major events in that sport also.
Remind employees of expectations
It may be worth sending a message out to employees regarding the Company’s expectations and policy regarding sporting events. This could also include a reminder regarding language and behaviour - competitive and passionate football remarks could result in insulting behaviour or bad language, which shouldn’t be tolerated. Also, when attending work the next day following a match, employees must be aware of their consumption of alcohol and take into account how long it takes for alcohol to clear their system before attending for work.