It was 10 July 2006, 2:00am on a Monday moring in Malaysia.
Italy and France were about to kick off in Berlin for the FIFA World Cup Final.
We had quite a number of football fans in the company. In fact, even the non-football fans (like me) got swept up in the World Cup fever.
Management were considering what would happen the next day if so many of us stayed up until 5.00am watching and celebrating the match, then had to return to work a few hours later.
So we decided to give everyone a half-day leave and split the team into staggered shifts:
🥅 Shift 1: 8.30am to 12.30pm
🥅 Shift 2: 11.00am to 3.00pm
🥅 Shift 3: 1.30pm to 5.30pm
A skeleton crew remained operational throughout the day.
Business continued running, employees got to enjoy the football match, and there was no unexpected absenteeism on the following day.
Sometimes good workforce planning is simply recognising predictable human behaviour and managing around it.
The World Cup Final is expected to fall in the wee hours of Monday morning for Malaysia again this year.
Perhaps this is something some employers may wish to consider.
Just a thought.
xoxoxo
