Oh, give me a comfortable chair, an ice-cold beer and pass that remote control, please. Hey, where’s my chair, beer, and that damn remote control!? Where am I? This can’t be real, I’m at work!Previous World Cups took many marriages to the breaking point, but this time, with World Cup matches kicking-off during European office hours, the unemployment rate will suffer.
No wonder the pollsters have been busy, asking big companies about their plans for letting employees watch the World Cup during working hours. Apparently, Germans are the strictest: 84% of the 500 German companies polled have banned the watching of World Cup games during office hours. Volkswagen/Daimler-Chrysler won’t allow TV’s in production areas, because “letting customers wait is nobody’s right.” The German Soccer Federation (DFB) is no exception, declaring, “Work is work, leisure is a different matter.”
In Norway, the Norwegian Business Confederation supported workers being allowed to watch the Winter Olympics at work, but is against letting workers watch football at work. Not so surprising, perhaps, since Norway won a string of Winter Olympic medals but failed to qualify for the World Cup.
In England, 75% of companies have no plans for allowing employees to watch World Cup matches. But British Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt has suggested that bosses allow flexible working hours, saying “the last thing we want is the entire work-force taking an unannounced sickie on the day.”
With matches playing during office hours, this year’s tournament is expected to draw more fans to the Internet than ever before. Yahoo offers live highlights for _ 22.50, but beware, there’s no software available yet to warn you when your boss is approaching, nor ‘World Cup Drugs (for office-use)’, to help you stay as cool as possible behind your desk when your team scores.
The French government has remained silent on the matter, and as for the Americans, most of them won%t watch it at all: Why would they be interested in something happening in the outside world? Dutch people probably won’t be overly concerned with the World Cup. But I won’t say why, because maybe it still hurts…
Oh, give me a comfortable chair, an ice-cold beer and pass that remote control, please. Hey, where’s my chair, beer, and that damn remote control!? Where am I? This can’t be real, I’m at work!
Previous World Cups took many marriages to the breaking point, but this time, with World Cup matches kicking-off during European office hours, the unemployment rate will suffer. No wonder the pollsters have been busy, asking big companies about their plans for letting employees watch the World Cup during working hours. Apparently, Germans are the strictest: 84% of the 500 German companies polled have banned the watching of World Cup games during office hours. Volkswagen/Daimler-Chrysler won’t allow TV’s in production areas, because “letting customers wait is nobody’s right.” The German Soccer Federation (DFB) is no exception, declaring, “Work is work, leisure is a different matter.”
In Norway, the Norwegian Business Confederation supported workers being allowed to watch the Winter Olympics at work, but is against letting workers watch football at work. Not so surprising, perhaps, since Norway won a string of Winter Olympic medals but failed to qualify for the World Cup.
In England, 75% of companies have no plans for allowing employees to watch World Cup matches. But British Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt has suggested that bosses allow flexible working hours, saying “the last thing we want is the entire work-force taking an unannounced sickie on the day.”
With matches playing during office hours, this year’s tournament is expected to draw more fans to the Internet than ever before. Yahoo offers live highlights for _ 22.50, but beware, there’s no software available yet to warn you when your boss is approaching, nor ‘World Cup Drugs (for office-use)’, to help you stay as cool as possible behind your desk when your team scores.
The French government has remained silent on the matter, and as for the Americans, most of them won%t watch it at all: Why would they be interested in something happening in the outside world? Dutch people probably won’t be overly concerned with the World Cup. But I won’t say why, because maybe it still hurts…
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