Wimbledon Schedule – How to avoid disruption at work

With England out of the World Cup there are still distractions for employees, Wimbledon play commenced on Monday and the full timetable can be found here: Wimbledon 2014 Match Schedule

It is important for businesses to be clear about what is expected of employees over such sporting events.

There is no legal right to time off to watch matches but some employers take the view that allowing employees to take time out their working day to watch matches improves moral and creates a happy workforce therefore improving productivity.

Don’t forget not to discriminate based on nationality. In order to avoid such allegations businesses should be mindful of other nationalities when deciding which matches to watch.

In order to put employees off skiving from work to watch matches or coming in late employers should have very clear disciplinary policies which cite unauthorised absence as an example of misconduct to be dealt with under disciplinary polices.

Some ideas to avoid disruption include the following:

• Consider introducing flexible working or allowing staff to swap shifts
• Put in place a policy, setting out rules, procedures and sanctions
• Ensure that your disciplinary and sickness policies are clear and properly implemented to avoid unauthorised absence
• Deal with holiday requests fairly
• Don’t discriminate

If you need any further information on this topic please contact me at kate.brooks@ellisjones.co.uk.