Tuesday June 10, 2014
by SAMUEL YESUIAH
The World Cup is the pinnacle of football supremacy. It is held every four years and people all over the world are waiting with bated breath for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
From June 13 to July 14, all 64 football matches will be telecast live for the viewing pleasure of football fans in Malaysia.
The stage is set for the world’s greatest sporting event but many companies and employers are anticipating an increase in employee absenteeism, sick leave and productivity loss during the World Cup season.
This is because the matches will be telecast live at 3am and 6am and football fans who watch them live will be affected physically, mentally and emotionally which will invariably affect their productivity and quality at work.
So how do we tackle World Cup fever? How do we juggle between football interests and core work responsibilities?
Companies and firms can have flexible working hours for their employees during the World Cup season. Employees should be allowed to pursue their interests while maintaining a high quality work culture.
The mid-term school holidays which were from May 28 May to June 15 could have been moved to mid-June to the end of June to accommodate the World Cup tournament.
It would have allowed teachers and students to catch some of the games live without affecting their teaching and learning. Now the school term begins when the World Cup kicks off.
Football fans can apply for annual leave to get days off to watch their favourite football matches so it would not affect their work productivity. They can negotiate a flexi-hour work schedule during the tournament.
They can reschedule their routine lifestyle for good matches and sleep early after work to catch the live telecast in the early hours of the morning.
The World Cup comes once every four years. It is an event in the calendar that will be a focal talking point of most people in many parts of the world.
Some of us may not be around for the next World Cup.
We can adjust, accommodate and adapt our work and our lives for the greatest show on earth.
After all life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.