Not everyone's excited that the World Cup kicked off on Thursday. For employers around the world, the month-long soccer fest may provide a serious headache.
The 2010 tournament caused the world's overall economic output and productivity to slump at impressive rates, according to an analysis by InsideView, a sales data and intelligence firm. Some highlights: the U.K. lost $7.3 billion in decreased economic output and U.S. companies lost 10 minutes of productivity per day. Put simply, when an estimated 80 percent of the world's population tunes in to watch soccer's foremost event, they stop working and their companies lose money as a result.
A report from the Employment Law Alliance outlines the obstacles employers could face during this year's World Cup. Let's take a look at some employee no-no's that have infamously caused their bosses some serious stress.
Some employers are trying to curb the trend. In 2010, eight out of 10 McDonald's employees in the U.K. took advantage of the company's flexible hours policy during the games. Also in England, Credit Suisse used the monitors in its trading rooms to screen the games.
In 2010, Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Holdings Inc. took preventative action and set up personalized Internet stations in its European offices so that streaming wouldn't interfere with the company's network.
