Monday 25 / August / 2025
Muscat: Employers across the Middle East, including Oman, are set to witness a major drop in productivity among their staff in June and July this year as a result of the 2018 football World Cup, according to a survey by online recruitment firm GulfTalent.
The tournament, to be played in Russia from June 14 to July 15, will run each day between 2pm and 1am Oman time.
Interest across the Arab world in this year’s FIFA World Cup is running high, as teams from an unprecedented four Arab countries have qualified for the international competition.
The participation of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, including star striker Mohamed Salah, has seen a spike in Arab and particularly Gulf interest in the games. The presence of large numbers of expatriates in the region, many from countries represented in the tournament, is further ramping up the excitement.
The heightened euphoria around the games this year, combined with the fact that many matches will be played during Middle East working hours and will be watched via live streaming on smartphones, which is set to severely impact productivity.
Based on GulfTalent’s survey findings, 92 per cent of employees in the region plan to watch at least some of the games. On a gender basis, the percentage is slightly lower among women at 84 per cent, as compared with 93 per cent of men.
Of the employees surveyed across the region, 28 per cent, over one in four, admitted planning to watch games during working hours. Of these, roughly one third expected that they would be given permission to do so, while a quarter said they would secretly watch the games by live streaming them on their computers or smartphones.
Other strategies that employees are reportedly set to use to watch the games during working hours included requesting a full day of annual leave, leaving work early, or simply calling in sick. While comparing different job categories, accountants were found more likely than others to secretly watch the games at their desk. Customer service professionals in comparison were to found to be more inclined than others to take a day of annual leave, while civil engineers were more likely to leave work early to watch the games.
A further source of productivity loss identified in GulfTalent’s survey is watching games late at night and after hours socialising. Almost two-thirds of professionals surveyed said that they would watch the late matches even if it meant sleeping late.
When asked how this would impact their work the next day, 74 per cent said that they would simply cut down on their sleep hours in order to get to work on time. A further 17 per cent said they would go to work late, while eight per cent said they would take the next day off as annual leave, and 1 per cent said they would call in sick.
Management perspective
Interest in the games is not limited to junior employees. The survey found that many managers also intended to watch the games during working hours. Within this segment, senior executives and company directors registered the highest rate, with 32 per cent of them planning to watch the games during working hours, as compared to an overall staff average of 28 per cent.
Unlike the non-managerial staff who would mostly resort to streaming the games on their phones, a sizeable number of senior executives planned to watch the games on company TV screens.
The survey also asked managers how much flexibility they would show in allowing their subordinates to watch the games. Overall, 67 per cent of managers said they would consider allowing their staff to watch some of the games, provided the workload was not too heavy.
The survey found that managers who were inclined to watch the games were more likely to be flexible enough to let their employees watch them. Moreover, they were more willing to give their subordinates time off on days when their own personal favourite teams were playing.
International comparison
The threat to productivity is not confined to the Middle East. During the last World Cup, a survey involving 100 UK business leaders by telecoms and IT services provider Coms plc, estimated that the World Cup could result in a loss of 250 million working hours to British businesses. A separate survey by employment law specialists ELAS put the potential cost of the 2014 World Cup to Britain’s employers at £4bn in lost productivity.
According to GulfTalent, given the nature of this year’s World Cup, the potential productivity loss is particularly high and Middle East employers with poor or inadequate guidelines are likely to suffer a disproportionate amount of absenteeism and staff distraction.
However, only 16 per cent of managers surveyed said that their companies had a specific employee policy for the World Cup. Where policies had been set up and communicated, some consisted mainly of punitive measures such as stricter time and attendance monitoring, official warnings, potential salary deductions, and making up hours missed.
Others reported more accommodating policies, such as giving employees time off if targets had been achieved, an “allowance” of up to three early departures or late arrivals, giving permission to watch the games whenever an employee’s national team was playing, or even providing for collective game watching on company TV screens as a team-building initiative.
Survey Methodology
GulfTalent’s research was based on an online survey of 8,000 professionals based across 10 countries in the Middle East and employed in different industries.
GulfTalent is a leading online recruitment portal in the Middle East, covering all sectors and job categories. Over 7 million professionals use GulfTalent for finding top career opportunities across the region. Over 9,000 companies use GulfTalent to source and hire qualified professionals, including both local and expatriate talent.
