Vincent Auto Body has had a television in its front office since summer 2010, when its owners had cable installed ahead of the World Cup. Those games were in South Africa, in a time zone six hours ahead of Westchester County”™s, with games beginning as early as 7:30 a.m.
My father and brother, who run the shop in the industrial section of Mamaroneck, thought it would be a good morale boost for their employees to be able to see the games ”“ they also figured it would prevent them from missing work altogether. Previous cups had seen a spike in sick days on match days, they said. “We figured this was a good way to avoid that,” Matt Lungariello, service manager, said.
The June 24 Google doodle was an animation of the letters of the word “Google” sitting around a conference table between a water cooler and filing cabinet watching a soccer match. A mustached letter B, wearing glasses and holding a clipboard, walks by the conference table just as the letter E switches the station from soccer to a chart.
The joke goes that work gets in the way of watching the World Cup, but for all the news items about lost productivity in the workplace, some say cup viewing may actually increase productivity.
This year”™s cup, played in Brazil, is closer to Westchester”™s time zone than 2010 but still has matches played during office hours. Captivate Network, in an informal poll, estimated the U.S. has lost as much as $1.68 billion in productivity from employees watching games during work hours. More than half of those polled said they watched or listened to games during the work day and 23 percent said they believed productivity had decreased as a result, according to ABC News.
The Business Journal asked readers of its online edition at westfaironline.com about their habits watching games during work in an unscientific poll in June. Many respondents who identified as World Cup fans said they felt more distracted and less productive as a result of watching the games on their desktop computers, mobile devices and cellphones.
Others admitted to taking extended coffee and lunch breaks, calling out sick and faking doctors appointments so that they could watch the games distraction free. Chris, a respondent to the survey who requested he not be identified, works for a national technology company and said that in 2010, rather than go on sales calls he went to a bar to watch a USA-Algeria game, in which the USA scored in dramatic fashion in stoppage time. Celebrators in the bar threw entire cups of beer in the air, he said. Then his boss called and asked him to come into the office.
“So I had to go in and let”™s just say reeked of beer from people throwing, cheering, etc.,” he said.
Several respondents whose companies did not have the games broadcast in a conference room or cafeteria said they would have preferred having the option to watch work-hour games in exchange for coming into the office earlier and leaving later.
Many analysts say the estimates of lost productivity are questionable and difficult to quantify. In U.S. News & World Report, columnist Stan Veuger called them misguided and even dangerous.
“They suggest a shortsighted, materialistic attitude that reflects some of the same impulses that led Chairman Mao to his Cultural Revolution, though, fortunately and for now, without the same tragic consequences,” he wrote.
A guest column on Forbes.com discussed the possibility that interest in the World Cup could be used as a long-term engagement tool for employers. Embracing employees”™ interest can mean not only happier staff members but can also encourage interdepartment communication and more productivity, the column said.
Guy Forgione, a certified sales professional at White Plains Chrysler Jeep Dodge, said, “Work gets done better when people are happy and the World Cup makes people happy.” He has kept up with the games, he said, through televisions in the dealership lounge and cellphone apps but didn”™t slow down in sales for the month.
Even Chris, who showed up to his office beer-soaked in 2010, said he believes this time around he has accomplished more on days when the USA played. On June 26, when the USA played a noon game against Germany, he made more calls and emails than usual ahead of kickoff. “I banged out as much work as I could from like 6 a.m. till game time,” he said.
Ahead of that game, which saw the USA lose but advance to the second round of the tournament, Jurgen Klinsmann, head coach of the national team, posted a permission slip to his Twitter feed asking to excuse employees for the “important cause” of watching the game. He also had advice for employers.
“By the way, you should act like a good leader and take the day off as well,” he said.
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