If you want to make sure your staff remain team players during the forthcoming World Cup, kicking off your strategy early is the name of the game, says Nicola Bulbeck

Before the first ball of this year's World Cup is kicked, council staff throughout the country will be thinking tactics – practising their step-over-and-step-round techniques, so as to watch every move, with or without permission. One in seven young men could skip work, according to research commissioned by HR specialist Croner, and carried out by YouGov. And that's not to mention the female fans.