The World Cup is on. A guide to leave, absence and flexible working.
With the tournament running to 19 July, Acas has set out how to keep things fair. Here is the short version for a small team.
What is happening
The 2026 World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July, hosted across Canada, Mexico and the United States. The time difference means some matches fall in or near the UK working day and others run late into the evening, so the effect on attendance and focus is spread across several weeks rather than a single afternoon.
Acas has published guidance for employers on handling it. The theme running through all of it is not really about football. It is about being flexible where you can, and being consistent while you do.
What Acas suggests
On time off, be flexible but even-handed, treat requests fairly and consistently, and try to reach agreement rather than simply refusing. Practical options include later starts or earlier finishes with the time made up, shift swaps, or letting people follow a match at work, all agreed before the event rather than sorted out on the day.
Your normal rules still apply underneath the flexibility. Existing absence policies stand, and unexplained absence or a pattern of it can be investigated. The usual expectations on alcohol and on using the internet during work hours do not change. Above all, Acas stresses applying whatever you decide consistently, whoever someone happens to support.
Why fairness is the whole game
In a small team, favouritism is visible within a day. The real risk during a tournament is not the hour lost to a match, it is handling the same request differently for two different people. That is what breeds resentment, and resentment outlasts the final.
A single clear line, applied to everyone, avoids all of it. It also makes your life easier, because you decide once rather than negotiating case by case.
The risk during a tournament is not the football. It is handling it differently for different people.
Make it easy on yourself
Decide your approach now, while there are still matches to go, and tell the team plainly. Log any leave and any agreed flexible hours in one place, so the arrangement is consistent and you can show it was fair if anyone asks. Jamie HR keeps leave, absence and flexible-working requests together, which is exactly what you want when you are trying to treat a whole team the same way at once.