Business with pleasure
By Liu Haoting (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-19 15:00
Once every four years, the FIFA World Cup is a thorn in the side of
human resource managers around the world.
Nearly 10,000 Dutch people, for
example, have asked for "sick" leave during the football tournament. And absence
rates at companies in the United Kingdom could shoot up to 40 per cent if
England enters the final, says Active Health Partners, an absence management
consulting firm.
 The situation is better in China, however, because time differences
mean the matches are not cutting into the working day. But sweating, yelling,
and drinking too much beer late into the night is likely to take its toll on
work efficiency the next day.
A recent survey by ChinaHR.com shows that
half of the human resource (HR) managers in China are worried their companies
will be negatively affected by World Cup fever.
Despite this, many say
they won't be extra strict on employees during the one-month football
tournament.
Some corporate executives believe adopting "the most
appropriate management" during this time is like being a strong fullback. If
they can inject the team spirit of the World Cup into their office environment,
they can score big goals in the business world.
"I don't want to do
anything special against our staff watching the football games. I would say,
'gentlemen, we will offer something special when necessary'," says Jose Cataluna
Casanova, vice-president and general manager of Airbus (Beijing) Engineering
Centre.
"You need to trust your people. I believe the people at Airbus
are responsible enough to realize that once they are at work, they need to work
hard."
The European aircraft manufacturer employs 55,000 people from 80
countries. In Beijing alone, there are engineers from five different European
countries.
"This is a really big family. Nobody is working alone,"
Casanova says. "We often use excellent matches during the World Cup as examples
to encourage our people. We emphasize team spirit. People need to know how to
support and how to help each other."
Gong He, a public relations officer at
Airbus China, still remembers the quarter-final between England and Brazil in
the last Japan/South Korea World Cup, not only because of the breathtaking match
itself, but because he watched it at work.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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