What’s a boss to do?

World Cup fever: The workplace illness nobody can avoid

SOMETHING WE KNOW for certain is that on Friday, Canada will start its World Cup tournament when it kicks off against Bosnia in Toronto. Something we think we almost know for certain is that also on Friday, many people will coincidentally report feeling a little cough or a chill coming on. “Nothing serious, boss, just need a day in bed! Better safe than sorry! Soccer game? Oh, there’s a soccer game? First I’m hearing of it…”

Click here to view this article in the London Inc. Worklife newsletter

Major international sporting events like the World Cup almost invariably produce elevated absenteeism at work. A survey by UKG in 2023, right before the Women’s World Cup, found that around a third of workers said they would take a day off, and a quarter would take part of a day. Twenty-five per cent said they will “push the limits” of what their managers will tolerate vis-a-vis flexibility; 37 per cent said they would be adjusting their schedule to make sure they can catch part of a game. And that was for the Women’s World Cup, which hasn’t historically drawn the same interest at the Men’s World Cup. Plus, this time, it’s on home soil, with round-robin games regularly scheduled in the middle of the workday.

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It’s already becoming a bit of a tension point for public sector workers who are otherwise caught in the throes of an RTO battle. In Ontario, the Ontario Public Service initially received blanked rejections from the Treasury Board for remote work requests, before allowing managers to approve “ad-hoc, occasional, or temporary remote work requests” during the World Cup. (The union had made a reasonable point: traffic and public transit are expected to be a bit of a nightmare in Toronto on game days.)

Some companies are thinking creatively about it. According to Business Insider, Heineken launched a “fan volunteers” campaign around this World Cup, basically telling workers they can use volunteer time off (PTO for the purpose of volunteering) for games they would like to watch, provided they do a bit of volunteering at the same time. (Business Insider said they ran one such event where Heineken employees helped bag prepared meals while the Champions League semi-finals were broadcast on TV.)

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But that won’t likely be enough to stop all the suspicious sick days. Many jurisdictions have rules in place that prevent employers from asking for doctors’ notes until the absence reaches a certain length, so companies’ hands are often tied. Because of that, many HR experts suggest companies should probably just accept it.

“Employers really are going to probably be struggling a little bit with the calling out issue,” said employment lawyer Marissa Mastroianni. “To the extent you can allow people to work from home on those days, that would be great.” Kieran Delamont