With the World Cup around the corner a recent survey that found that almost half of SME owners and managers in the UK are concerned that the World Cup will have a negative impact on their business.
Sporting events can often bring unwanted employee absence which can impact your business. The best way to overcome unplanned absences and to plan for busy periods is to make your expectations clear to your employees. Talking through plans with your staff will allow for open communication during this period and avoid potential unauthorised absences.
Here are a few ways to reduce unplanned absence;
Plan – think ahead of what events are happening and who might be tempted and wants to be there. Leaving it to the last minute, as with anything, means the quality of decision making is compromised.
Communicate and consult – speak to your team and get their input; typically employees are more reasonable than we might expect and often come up with ideas which we might not think of as managers.
Show flexibility – be prepared to make some changes following your team meeting. Putting a TV in the staff room or being flexible around the hours people work can build up a great deal of goodwill.
Be fair – remember those who aren’t interested in any upcoming sporting events. While it is good practice to find solutions that suits football fans to avoid unplanned absence, make sure those who aren’t interested are not feeling left out.
Set expectations and communicate – having developed a solution, communicate the outcome, reinforce expectations and the consequences of non-compliance. Too often managers become frustrated feeling let down by their team when in reality they have failed to be clear on what they expect, "We will do this, in return we expect...”
Deal with those who stray – Having set expectations clearly, we need to effectively manage absence and non-compliance and instigate disciplinary procedures appropriately.
Lastly,
Embrace it – use any major events to create some buzz in the team with themes and competitions and have some fun with it.
Hope is not a strategy and we should use such occasions such as the World Cup to plan and devise a way forward that increases employee goodwill and engagement.
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