'48 p.c. Indians skip work to watch IPL'

BANGALORE, INDIA: A new global survey commissioned by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated and conducted by Harris Interactive reveals that employees around the world have, to varying degrees, called in sick to work over a sporting event.

Whether they stayed home to watch it on television, attended it live, played the sport themselves, or needed a day off after staying up late to watch, sports has a significant impact on attendance at work, the survey goes on.

The Kronos “Sidelined by Sports” survey also looks at which sports are most likely to keep employees from their jobs in each region and how guilty — or not guilty — people feel about calling into work sick for sport.

Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Mexico, the UK, and the US were represented in the survey.

Significant numbers of employees around the world admit to calling in sick to work so they could stay home and watch or attend a sporting event. China led all surveyed regions with 58 per cent, while in France only one per cent answered yes.

Other countries polled included India with 48 per cent, the UK with 24 per cent, Mexico with 21 per cent, Australia with 19 per cent, Canada with 13 per cent, and the US with 11 per cent.

High numbers of respondents also said that they had called in sick the day after a sporting event because they were up late watching/attending it: 54 per cent in China, 41 per cent in India, 23 per cent in the UK, 19 per cent in Australia, 16 per cent in Mexico, nine per cent in Canada, seven per cent in the US, and one per cent in France.

When it came to calling in sick to play a sport themselves, 49 per cent of people in China agreed to doing this, followed by India with 38 per cent, Mexico with 18 per cent, the UK with 16 per cent, Australia with 10 per cent, Canada with seven per cent, the US with five per cent, and France with zero.

Which sports were most likely to cause employees to miss work? In Australia, France, Mexico, and the UK, football (referred to as soccer in the US) took the top spot. In the US, it was American football, China was basketball, Canada was hockey, and India was cricket. The Olympics were in the top three sports mentioned for six of the eight regions polled — only the US and India did not rank as high.

How did employees feel about calling in sick to watch or play sports? Pretty guilty! The numbers of people who responded that they felt 'at least somewhat guilty' were 92 per cent in France, 90 per cent in China, 85 per cent in Mexico, 78 per cent in India, 74 per cent in Australia, 71 per cent in the US, 64 per cent in Canada, and 63 per cent in the UK

When it came to what employers could do to prevent employees from calling in sick when they are not actually sick, the top answer in every region was to allow employees to work flexible hours — this tied for first place with allowing employees to work from home in India. Allowing employees to take unpaid leave and establishing a benefit like summer Fridays were the other options chosen most frequently in every region.

Unscheduled absences — such as when an employee calls in sick at the last minute — cost organizations 8.7 per cent of payroll each year as discussed in a recent survey conducted by Mercer and sponsored by Kronos.

“A very timely report to see how unplanned absence can be an even bigger challenge during the days of IPL. We are glad to bring attention of corporates to manage absences better in India, and provide practical insights to employee behaviour and trends,” says James Thomas, country manager - India, Kronos.