Staff productivity impact in the Middle East during the World Cup 2018

Based on Gulf Talent online survey’s findings, 92 percent of employees in the region plan to watch at least some of the football World Cup games. On a gender basis, the percentage is slightly lower among women at 84%, as compared with 93% of men.

Four Arab countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) have qualified for the FIFA World Cup so the interest across the Arab world in this year’s international competition is running high.

According to Gulf Talent, only 16% of managers surveyed said their companies had a specific employee policy for the World Cup and the impact on staff productivity could be the following:

• 92% of professionals plan to watch at least some of the matches
• 28% of employees plan to watch during working hours
• 33% will watch at work with permission
• 28% will leave work early
• 12% will secretly live stream at work
• 12% will take day of leave
• 1% will report sick

HR professionals should be ready and communicate the company policies before the start of the World Cup to avoid suffering a disproportionate amount of absenteeism.

• Some policies that you could include are:
• Giving employees time off if targets had been achieved
• Giving permission to watch the games whenever the employee’s national team is playing
• Watching on company TV screens as a team building initiative
• Deducting salaries if the absence was not authorised or reported

Bradfield Learning & Development delivers CIPD Qualifications and Awards in the Middle East to encourage HR and L&D professionals to be up to date with the latest trends and skills in the field of the Human Resources.

If you would like to attend one of our courses or you need to sign up someone from your team, please email us on enquiries@bradfield.co.uk and our CIPD Programme Advisors will be happy to assist you.