Is The World Cup Set To Cause Chaos For Uk Businesses This Summer?

22 May 2006

Survey reveals that nearly half of the UK's working population will not go to work if they can't watch live events in the office

London, 22nd May 2006: England's businesses are gearing up for a quiet summer this year, with nearly half of all 16-24 year olds revealing that they will "pull a sickie" or take a days holiday to watch live events, such as the upcoming World Cup 2006. The research, commissioned by IPTV specialist Exterity, showed that 43 per cent of those respondents said they wouldn't go into work if they couldn't watch their team play.

Key Findings:

16-24 year olds are most likely to take time off, with 20 per cent of respondents stating that they would phone in sick and 43 per cent of respondents stating they would take annual leave.

The 55-64 age group is the least likely to stay at home, with just 3 per cent  of the more responsible workforce stating they would "pull a sickie".

It's not just the male contingency that want to watch the World Cup; of the women questioned, 23 per cent said that they would take time off to watch an event like the World Cup if it wasn't possible to do so at work.

Maybe most surprisingly, 28 per cent of Scottish respondents stated that they would book a day off to watch an event like football and 8 per cent would call in sick, when Scotland is not even in the World Cup!  Which begs the question, are the Scots hoping to see England get thrashed?

A spokesman for The Work Foundation, a think tank and consultancy, said: "No employer would want to stop people from taking part in an event that is going to capture the attention of the nation. But the key for all organisations is to be able to plan ahead and reduce unscheduled absence; uncertainty of cover is what is feared most. Many employers are already putting in place special leave arrangements. In addition, some are taking steps such as putting up TV screens in canteens and cafeterias."

"We have installed an IPTV system in our building and plan to give our employees access to the matches that they are interested in from any of our meeting rooms or from the atrium," explained Roger Chapp de Lonval, IT Manager, SABMiller, one of the world's largest brewers.  "We realise that our employee's mind will be else where when their favourite team is playing so would prefer to have them in the office rather than at home either throwing a sick or on a day of holiday."

"The World Cup presents a great opportunity for businesses to bring staff together and boost morale, the games are only two hours long and companies should encourage their employees to be patriotic and support their teams," said Colin Farquhar, CEO, Exterity. "Businesses that have installed an IPTV system in their offices will benefit by avoiding staff shortages and unnecessary pressure on company bandwidth, as employees either take time off or try to watch games on the internet while at work."

The World Cup has raised issues surrounding staff shortages during the  tournament but also presents companies with the opportunity to plan how they would deal with major televised sporting events such as the Ashes, British Open Golf etc. as well as major national and international news stories that occur, for example, the 7/7 bombings in London.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Exterity     www.exterity.com
Exterity Limited was formed in 2001 to create products to deliver broadcast quality digital video over IP networks within buildings.  Exterity's products represent a significant advance over the co-axial cable systems in common use today but are viable for deployment in large scale video distribution systems.

Exterity's core technology, in-socket, allows display appliances, such as televisions, to be connected directly to wall-mounted isockets and other Exterity receivers to get direct and easy access to all available digital media and services.

Exterity is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Media contacts:
Steve Douthwaite, Kate Hyslop and Emma Bridgeman
Rocket Communications
Tel: +44 (0)8453 707 024
Fax: +44 (0)8453 707 034
Email: exterity@rocketcomms.net