England's middle-of-the-night World Cup clash with Mexico has prompted calls for employers to use their "common sense and understanding" and allow flexible working where possible, as bleary-eyed fans face a 1am kick-off on Monday.
Joshua Elash, who runs London-based firm MT Finance Group, is allowing his 125 staff to start work at 11:00. "It wasn't a dilemma at all. This was as close to a no-brainer as a business can get," he says. Under normal circumstances all employees would be in the office at 08:45 or 09:00, but Elash, who plans to stay up for the match, says it's only fair to extend that flexibility to colleagues. "It's good for morale," he adds, admitting Monday may not be particularly productive. "Some things are more important than, you know, a day's revenue."
“Employers urged to allow later starts for England's 1am World Cup match against Mexico.”
Digital marketing company MadeByShape, based in Manchester, is giving its 21 staff the day off – providing they are on track with their work and have rearranged any client meetings. Co-founder Andy Golpys says: "As long as the work gets done, it doesn't really matter whether you work that day or catch up the next. They appreciate you more, but from a business point of view, we're not really losing that much."
The TUC, the umbrella group for trade unions, is calling for "common sense and understanding" concerning morning-after working arrangements. Assistant general secretary Kate Bell says the match will "have implications for workers across the country". She advises employees to check their contracts and rights, and hopes bosses where possible will allow staff to work from home, start later or swap their hours. "It won't be possible for everyone, but we do know that where employers make that extra effort to show flexibility to their employees, people really appreciate it," she says.
John Palmer, senior advisor at conciliation service Acas, says firms must treat requests for time off fairly, though the full details of his advice were not included in the source.
The 1am kick-off has already caused confusion: On Thursday, the government said pubs could stay open until 05:00 on Monday – after earlier ruling it out. The move was welcomed by some hospitality groups, but police criticised the "late" announcement. Reports on Friday suggested the match might be brought forward by six hours due to concerns over storms, before Fifa decided against it hours later.
For now, fans in industries such as manufacturing and retail may find it harder to get flexibility, but for office workers, the message is clear: set the alarm, watch the game, and hope the boss has a lie-in policy too.