England's dedication to England's World Cup bid will boost Britain's GDP by £1.83 billion as employees up and down the country raise productivity by an average of 11.7% across the World Cup period*. That's the finding of new research*** from Vodafone UK, which firmly gives the boot to the notion that Britain will become a nation of slackers and 'sick-notes'**** during the World Cup, with six million having devised ways to work smarter and not miss a game during the whole tournament.
Research shows that the big priority for 10 million workers will be England's game against Trinidad and Tobago, which kicks off at 5pm on June 15th. But throwing a sickie is the last thing on workers' minds as many say they are five times more likely to work smarter than call in sick or create a fictitious appointment.
Getting to work earlier (28%), missing lunch hours (23%), putting a stop to gossip for the day (9%), taking extra work home the night before and working remotely (16%) are just some of the schemes British employees have lined up so they don’t miss the crucial game. A startling 50% of 'die-hard' World Cup fans will get in early and miss lunch. Overall productivity will see a boost of 27.7% on the 15th June. Yorkshire and the North East lead the productivity drive as they come out as the most dedicated region (see table below).
Mark Bond, director of enterprise marketing for Vodafone UK, comments: 'The idea of throwing a sickie, or leaving a job half done to get to the pub in time for the match has certainly been overturned by this research. British workers are conscientious and just as dedicated to getting the job done as they are to their team. If anything this provides employers with an encouraging sign, that given the right motivation and flexibility, employees can be trusted to manage their own time, and be more productive and focused on the job in hand.'
Mark continues: 'This research should give employers the confidence that there is no need to be scared to give employees mobile email, 3G mobile connect cards, or even built in 3G laptops and, soon to be launched, 3G broadband.' Research also showed that most employees say they could save themselves an extra four hours a week if they followed their World Cup time management tactics all the time. For some employees who work traditional 9-5 this could amount to the equivalent of an average holiday allowance (26 days). London is the region most likely to be productive, saving as much as 32 days over the year.
Regional table
% of respondents that answered true to the following statement: 'I would rather work harder, faster, smarter to get the job done and enjoy what I want to do ie watch a world cup match.'
Region
%
East 81.9
North East 90.5
London 84.2
North West 85.8
Midlands 77.4
Scotland 87.4
Wales 80.7
Yorkshire 94
South West 77.6
South East 81.5
ENDS
Notes to editor:
* Calculated using latest GDP data from the Office of National Statistics: This was then calculated against the forecasted workplace efficiencies offset against forecasted absenteeism & loss to business, delivering a net benefit to business productivity of 11.7% across the five weeks of the World Cup.
** Calculated using latest labour force data (population 25 million) from the Office of National Statistics.
*** 1236 employees were surveyed by Tickbox in June 2006.
****Croner Consultancy research http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2006/04/20/34972/Turn+watching+the+World+Cup+to+your+advantage+on+absence.htm
First Assist research http://www.onrec.com/content2/news.asp?ID=11875< /A>
Global Market Institute research http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/topstories/tm_objectid=17151405&method= full&siteid=94762&headline=15--plan-an-illness-name_page.html
About Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK has 16.3 million customers and is part of the world’s largest mobile community offering a wide range of voice and data communications. The company is committed to providing mobile solutions that allow both consumer and business customers to make the most of now. In addition, Vodafone connects customers across the globe with roaming agreements worldwide. It provides 3G roaming in 18 countries and offers great roaming value with Vodafone Passport. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.co.uk.
Vodafone UK was the first mobile operator to offer a 3G data card in the UK with the introduction of its 3G/GPRS Mobile Connect Card in April 2004. Vodafone UK has sold over 150,000 3G Mobile Connect cards in the UK and leads the UK market with the largest share of 3G data cards*.
3G broadband - HSDPA
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is an evolution of Vodafone’s 3G network that will enable customers to download data at significantly improved rates initially offering the mobile transfer of data from the internet and intranet at roughly four times faster than current 3G speeds - initially designed around the 1.8Mbps standard, customers will experience peak downlink speeds of around 1.4Mbps (with an average of 400 - 700Kbps across all coverage areas) and up to 384kbps uplink. It will deliver a high speed 3G broadband experience to customers.
HSDPA will also deliver greater capacity (three times that of current 3G levels) meaning that more people in the same location at the same time can benefit from a superior experience. In addition, HSDPA offers reduced network latency, giving faster access to web-based content. As a result, customers will be able to work faster and download larger documents, such as PowerPoint presentations and email attachments, more quickly.
For further information please contact:
Bryony Clow/Samantha Botting
Vodafone UK Public Relations
Tel: 0845 4444466 or email: press.office@vodafone.com