"Yes, let them clock off early" - our readers discuss if employers should let staff finish work earlier to watch the England v Germany game

Naturally the responses were quite wide-ranging and very opinionated. Here are a selection of the responses:

Sam Wallace replied, saying; “Yes, provided they 1) make the time back and 2) they aren’t absolutely needed at that time.”

Leila Adams has a heart of gold, which was clearly exhibited by her response, “As someone who couldn’t care less about football, I’d happily do extra hours to allow a fan to go home and watch. If they were willing to return the favour in future obviously!”

Ian Cocker, “Well, I'm letting mine finish at 4.” and Sam Hay said that, “Ours is shutting the office at 4 so we can all go and watch it”, very nice. Enjoy Sam.

Martin Carlton said that, “Ecloud are shutting stores early Tuesday so all staff can watch the match.”

Alison Lindley Ne Greaves says; “yes! For sure, after the year everybody has had it would be unkind not to! I would rather stop at work than watch football or any other sport, but a lot of people will be gutted if they don't get to watch the match!”

Dorothy Ward answered succinctly, saying, “Yes if its not important that they work.”

Danni Birks Hibbert is a staunch realist (or is that slight pessimist?), she replied that, “You’d only be setting em up for disappointment.”

Toni Neale said that, “I’d say it’s upto the employer there really isn’t a right or wrong answer to this silly question”, but you gave it your best shot.

Enid Watson replied saying that, “Certain people would not be able to such as NHS, fire services etc so it's not really fair but at end of the day it's down to individual employers.”

Andrew McInerney responded saying, “Yes, I'm in Australia, so technically been allowed to leave 9 hours early”, nobody likes a bragger Andrew. Just kidding. Enjoy the game.

Andrew Watson said; “Yes. Nobody will be doing any work while the game is on anyway so making workers stay would be counterproductive.”

Suzanne Beaumont replied saying, “If an employer wants to let their staff leave early for anything, why not.” Why not indeed.

Kirsty Amanda Russell Newby said; “Yes, let them clock off early it's only half day what about the 18 months borris Johnson gave us off.”

Jordan Connor is not taken at all with the idea, “Absolutely NOT staff have a job to do and they're expected to work. Where you come up with these ludicrous questions”, you make a fair point there but alas not everyone sees the world in the same way. Particularly in light of the events of the past 18 months. Perhaps this is some necessary escapism?

Iain Barker responded and said, “You think people should abandon their jobs to watch a bunch of overpaid, intellectually challenged men kick a bag of wind around a field? Really? What a stupid question.”

Dawn Linthwaite is not for the idea, saying; “No, unless time of is allowed for cricket, rugby, the Olympics etc why is football deemed to be above everything else, its ridiculous.”

Sarah Dawn replied, saying; “No reason being loads of money has been lost this last 17mths with covid and work places been shut and allowing employees home early means more money lost. Key workers cannot clock off either so why one rule one and one rule for another. It will be our last match on Tuesday we have played like the under 5s group starting out.”

Peter Bell clearly found amusement from some of the replies, saying, ”Looking at the responses from some miserable b****rs in this thread, I hope their employer makes them work extra (unpaid of course) whilst the rest of us enjoy the match with a beer or two! I bet they’re a right laugh to work alongside!”

So, opinions are definitely split. I suppose that it’s only a game anyway and if it brings people together (in the right way, socially distanced of course) and actually allows people some temporary escapism, what’s wrong with that? This seemed to be the overarching theme in terms of some responses, whereas some people were staunchly against the idea. Either way, however you choose to watch the game (or not), Come on England right?