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Bosses braced for Germany encounter

WHILE the events of Sunday afternoon will reveal England’s World Cup destiny, they could also dictate the mood – and productivity – of the North East workforce next week.

With the majority of World Cup games taking place during standard office hours, economists at the Centre for Economics and Business Research have already estimated the tournament to result in around £900m of lost productivity, as workers down tools to watch the afternoon matches.

Meanwhile, the fortunes of the English national team could have a direct impact on the performance of UK workers in the coming weeks.

Tony Sarginson, head of external affairs at the North East branch of manufacturing body EEF, said: “Anecdotally productivity for North East manufacturers will rise when England beats Germany, everyone is happy, morale soars – however should the Germans manage to beat us – then the reverse will be true, however we all go back to our normal productive region the next day.”

Jonathan Walker, policy adviser at North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), said: “It will provide a positive boost if we do beat [Germany] , but then the hope is that, after the performance in the first two games, people may not expect England to win so we may not be hit too hard.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .