The UEFA European Football Championship, which is being hosted by Germany, is now in full fling. Matches are being played at various times throughout the day, including working hours. As a result, employers may be facing challenges managing staff attendance and productivity.
To prepare for the Women’s World Cup back in 2023, Acas put together some useful tips to help employers address any possible issues that might arise. This guidance is still relevant to the Euros and essentially encourages employers to offer a degree of flexibility over the football period.
This month, we set out some of these recommendations, as well as a few of our own, that you may wish you consider as an employer to help manage this period and boost staff morale, motivation and team spirit.
Advice for Employers During the Euros
Allow for some flexibility with time off and holiday requests.
There are likely to be some last-minute time off requests as countries progress to the next stage of the competition.
You may also consider allowing staff to alter working hours or finish early so they may watch evening matches. This also allows you to accommodate the football fans amongst your staff while posing minimum disruption to the business.
However, this should all still be done on a consistent and fair basis, on a first-come first-served basis, so that staff who are supporting European countries other than the home teams and those who are not interested in the Euros are not treated less favourably.
It may be sensible to send out an email to staff telling them what the company’s position is on the tournament and whether people have to book time off, have the option of flexi-time and how all that is agreed.
Consider showing the matches within your premises.
Employers are not under any obligation to permit their employees to watch the football. Acas has, however, suggested that allowing staff to listen to the radio or watch the matches on TV may be an option for employers to take. Alternatively, staff could watch some of a game during their break times or keep track of the score periodically. Such measures help boost staff morale but at the same time, maintain attendance and productivity.
Additionally, you may want to embrace the football mania and organise football-themed events to engage the workforce.
It is, however, important to set out your expectations so that staff are aware that even if they are allowed to watch or listen to games, this should not interfere with important work tasks.
Remember that people like and follow different sporting events.
While there may be benefits to allowing staff to swap shifts, work flexibly to watch matches and cover each other, this may cause issues with non-football fans and may mean that you will have to consider a similar approach for other major sporting events, such as the upcoming Olympics, to ensure fairness and inclusivity.
Similarly, if you do organise workplace events relating to the Euros, staff should not be disadvantaged if they do not want to take part.
Consider social media.
You may want to allow more flexibility in using social media in the workplace so that employees can stream and follow matches. However, do first consider the impact this may have on productivity and whether the company’s broadband limits can withstand this.
Similarly, you should reiterate your social media policy to staff to remind them of the significance of comments on social media during the tournament. This is especially important if the employee’s social media is linked to their workplace.
Remind staff that the usual absence and attendance rules apply.
A recent poll suggested that one-third of British employees planned to call in sick to watch the England v Denmark match on 20 June.
Keep an eye on patterns of absence or late attendance. It is advisable to pre-warn employees about unauthorised absences, such as calling in sick to watch a match or faking an illness the next day to recover from a late night at the pub watching a game and inform them of any possible consequences. They should be aware that ultimately, misuse of sick leave is a disciplinary matter that could even lead to dismissal.
Be vigilant to potential discrimination issues that could arise.
Football banter and rivalry can turn ugly and have the potential to result in bullying and discrimination. As a result, you should ensure that staff are aware that hostile or racist remarks about a particular country will not be tolerated.
Remind staff that they have continuing responsibilities outside of their workplace.
Matches are shown in public places such as pubs, where alcohol is plentiful, and news of staff bad behaviour can spread quickly on social media and reflect badly on your business. You should therefore remind staff that they should conduct themselves appropriately outside work when watching the football.
It is established case law that employees can be disciplined for misconduct outside the work where their behaviour may damage their employer’s reputation. In the case of the Post Office v Liddiard, the Court of Appeal concluded that an employee was fairly dismissed after he was involved in football hooliganism during the 1998 World Cup, which brought his employer into disrepute.If you still have questions or need further guidance on managing your workforce during the Euros 2024, our expert employment team will be happy to help. Contact us today on 0300 303 2071 or email us.
