Research from Canon shows England’s failure at Euro 2004 caused UK companies to miss out on over £522 million on the day after the Portugal game as office workers mourned the national team’s loss. Canon’s study, conducted in conjunction with psychologist group, YSC Ltd, analysed the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of employees after each football match from a range of businesses in England and across Europe. The last-gasp defeats against France and Portugal hit office productivity dramatically despite encouraging wins against Switzerland and Croatia which saw general mood and creativity go up.
Psychologist and director of YSC, Robert Sharrock, says: "English fans are the most passionate in Europe and yet another penalty shoot-out defeat has hit office workers hard. We never imagined that football would have such a direct relationship with the workplace but our findings show that defeats against France and Portugal reduced productivity by 41%, which obviously has serious economic ramifications."
The research was carried out amongst 300 respondents from across Europe in UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
28-Jun-2004
