Coming on the heels of Ramadan, the World Cup is predicted to bring another month of reduced productivity for businesses throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
A survey released this week by Middle Eastern online recruitment site GulfTalent revealed that 92 percent of employees plan to watch at least part of the tournament. With a lot of the games happening during business hours, many hope to watch matches at the office or even ditch work.
Senior executives and company directors in the region also said they plan to disrupt their workday to see the games, with 32 percent admitting they would watch the World Cup matches during working hours. Among the 8,000 employees from across the region surveyed, 28 percent plan to leave work early for matches, 26 percent will secretly stream the games in the office and 12 percent will take a day off.
Such a massive distraction will impact overall productivity throughout the region. With the World Cup starting just as Ramadan draws to a close, this will mark the second straight month of reduced productivity in Arab countries. A 2013 article published by Saudi newspaper Arab News estimated that productivity during Ramadan can decline anywhere from 35 to 50 percent.
Many companies throughout the Middle East and North Africa established reduced working hours to accommodate fasting employees. Additionally, when the workers are in the office, they are often more lethargic due to their fasting and unusual sleeping hours during the Islamic holy month.
This year, following the annual Ramadan dip in productivity, the World Cup promises a similar effect.
With six Muslim-majority teams—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Senegal—participating in the World Cup this year, many in the region will have an extra incentive to keep tabs on the games. In fact, GulfTalent's survey found that, regardless of gender, employees throughout the region are eager for the tournament. According to the responses, 84 percent of women and 93 percent of men plan to watch at least some of the games.
GulfTalent said the potential productivity loss is particularly high, especially when regional teams are competing, matches take place during work hours and the ease with which games can be streamed through smartphones. The site said that regional "employers with poor or inadequate guidelines are likely to suffer a disproportionate amount of absenteeism and staff distraction."
Although low productivity during Ramadan and the World Cup will be a problem unique to Muslim-majority countries, previous research has shown the world's most popular tournament can negatively impact business in other countries as well.
Prior to the 2014 World Cup, Coms plc conducted a survey by telecoms and IT services provider, which involved 100 business leaders in the United Kingdom. According to the results, British businesses were expected to lose 250,000 working hours due to the international tournament. Lost productivity during the 2014 tournament potentially cost British employers up to $5 billion, according to another survey by law specialist ELAS.
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