The London Olympics are approaching fast with the main Games running from the 27th July to the 12th August and the Paralympics running from 29th August to the 9th September. There is no legal requirement for you to grant time off during the Olympics - it is up to you whether or not you want to allow it, taking into account the needs of your business. Whatever you decide, it is wise to plan and communicate now to your staff what will happen during the Games.
Several options are available to help you deal with any increased absenteeism and to ensure that your business is not adversely affected :.
• Firstly, you could operate a "business as usual" approach. Staff who want to take time off to watch or attend the Games must request annual leave in the usual way. You may, however, want to consider late requests for annual leave particularly if the employee’s national team does well during the medal stages of the Games.
• You could explore the possibility of screening some events in the workplace which could lead to the business benefiting from increased motivation and improved morale. However, you would need to ensure that non-English staff are given the same opportunity and flexibility to watch their national teams and be aware of the need to keep sport-free areas for those who have no interest in the Games.
• Be flexible. If there is a particular event which staff want to watch, it could be an ideal opportunity for them to use any time off in lieu owed, by allowing flexible start or finish times or by offering extended lunch breaks.
• Make sure that staff are aware of any specific rules or procedures which you may want to put in place to deal with any unauthorised absence. For example, staff who are off sick could be required to notify their absence to a specific person. This would allow you to monitor unauthorised absence closely during the Games and would also help with identifying absence patterns on certain days. Without fail, return to work interviews should be held as soon as the employee returns to work, to record the reason for their absence.
• Give staff advanced warning that unauthorised absences without a good reason, and sickness absences that are not genuine, will be dealt with under your controlling unauthorised absence procedures.
These approaches should help to discourage absenteeism during the Olympics period.
