Watching the Olympic Games can do a lot for a nation: instill a sense of pride and provide inspiration for the overweight to do some exercise. But for many employers the three-week long event can also mean a distracted workforce, decreased productivity and disgruntled managers as staff find ways to catch their favorite events.
And if Sydney made us late for work and Athens made us rush home early, Beijing 2008 which kicks off next Friday threatens to distract us during prime working hours, with many of the main events beginning around lunchtime.
With millions expected to keep updated through live internet streaming, blogs and mobile messaging, companies should expect a dip in productivity, according to economic think tank the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
“During any major sporting event people work less productively,” said Arek Ohanissian, economist at the CEBR. “Excessive absenteeism and a lack of engagement could be a problem, particularly as the Olympics will be going on during office hours.
“We estimate that the Olympics could cost Britain up to £600,000 in lost productivity.”
It’s not all bad news. The British propensity to celebrate sporting events with fatty food and vast quantities of lager may give the economy a helping hand. “People spend more during big sporting events – the World Cup added around £1bn to the economy,” said Ohanissian.
Technology experts predict that Beijing will have the most live coverage of any Olympic Games with more ways of keeping abreast of the greco-roman wrestling than ever before, but that may be a positive thing for employers, said Heather Hancock, managing partner for innovation and brand at Deloitte.
“We are going to see much more digital consumption of these Olympics, with people using PDAs and mobiles to get their Olympic updates,” she said. “The way we consume news has changed and what we are likely to see is employees getting a quick sporting fix in bite-sized chunks and then getting on with their work.”
Hancock says Deloitte is not expecting the timing of Olympic events to cause disruption. Like many companies, the organization is encouraging staff to get involved by asking employees on holiday at the Olympics to blog for the company’s intranet and following the progress of athletes sponsored by the company.
“We want people to connect with what is happening on the other side of the world. If we lose employees attention for the 10 seconds of the 100m, I don’t think we have to be too worried,” she said.
Still, companies need to have a clear policy when it comes to Olympic skiing, said Steve Williams, head of equality and diversity at Acas, the industrial disputes mediator. “Organizations need to be aware that this type of event generates a huge amount of interest and they need to be flexible but firm.
“There is no need to be a spoilsport, but staff may need to be reminded that they still have contractual requirements and if they are switching off, it may be their colleagues who have to shoulder the burden.”
Not everyone will be watching the Olympics, either at work or on the sofa. Beijing is perhaps the only games in recent history where not watching a masterful clean and jerk by a Greek weight lifter could be considered a political act. Hundreds of groups have sprung up on social networking site Facebook, urging people to switch off their televisions in protest of China’s human rights record with groups like Boycott the Beijing Olympics attracting more than 18,000 members.
But in many pockets of the country excitement about the forthcoming games is palpable. Not least in Liverpool’s Chinatown, where the community is planning a cocktail competition to mark the opening ceremony and sneaking televisions into kitchens throughout the city’s Chinese quarter, said community representative Alan Seatwo.
“The Chinese community is extremely excited about the Olympics. There has been a lot of bad press but this really is the first chance for our mother country to show the world what it can do.”
