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Bloemfontein - The World Cup soccer tournament that starts in June could present business people with some unpleasant surprises.
Instead of providing the anticipated economic bonanza, the event could lead to revenue losses for certain South African companies.
This is because of huge challenges to the infrastructure, leading to delays and traffic congestion.
Workers' productivity is also expected to drop as a result of people wanting to watch the soccer spectacle at work.
According to Martin Humphries, the managing director of Executives Global Networking (EGN) - an information network for chief executives - some of the country's top chief executives, financial executives and human resource managers have already begun to assemble under EGN's banner to prepare for the possible disruptions and glean wisdom from their overseas counterparts.
In Sydney, during the 2000 Olympic Games, companies found that business stagnated to an extent resembling that of the December holidays.
Humphries advises companies to plan ahead on how leave will be handled. Some companies and even the public service are asking workers to work in extra time now to make up for the times that they will want to watch the games.
Alan Hosking, human resources expert and editor of HR Future magazine, agrees. He stresses that employers should clearly set out their policy ahead of time.
He says that employees should know their company's position on match attendance, as well as its policy on absenteeism.
Otherwise employers wanting to take steps related to poor performance or absence during the tournament will experience major difficulties, he points out.
A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that 53% of male employees and 21% of female employees indicated that they would follow World Cup soccer matches on television during working hours.
Out of 1 000 workers, 14% would watch with their employer's permission, 9% would use flexitime and 15% would watch without permission, or pretend to be ill.
A great deal of goodwill can be built up by acceding to requests for flexible working times or allowing workers to take off a couple of hours to watch matches, says Michael Rendall, a partner and human resources practice leader at PwC.
Bonuses and salary increases have recently been skimpy and this could be a wonderful way to thank staff while taking a practical look at the pros and cons of flexible working hours for the company.
- Sake24.com
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