The UK insurance giant Prudential has vowed to introduce flexitime during June to allow its staff to watch World Cup football matches.

The Pru's 6,500 workers have been promised time off work during the games, although they must make up for the hours lost later on.

The staff will even be allowed to watch the games in pubs - as long as they remain sober - or they can see them at home or in the office where special screens will be rigged up, the Pru said.

"We realise that people have interests outside of work that we will endeavour to accommodate during the working week," said the Pru's chief executive for the UK and Europe, Mark Wood.

'Forced bunking'

But few UK firms are expected to follow the Pru's example, a recent survey has indicated.

Three in four British businesses plan to ignore recent calls from the Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt for flexible working hours during the World Cup, according to the GMB trade union survey.

"Only 23% of workers had been told their firms were granting special time off, or making special arrangements" to allow them to watch matches, the union said.

Consequently, "Britain's workers will be forced to 'bunk it for Beckham'," the GMB said.

Whether forced or not, it seems certain that many workers will go AWOL to watch the Cup.

"During the last World Cup, absentee rates for some England matches were as high as 70%," the union said.

Heads in the sand

The GMB pointed out that 'sickies' during the last the World Cup cost the UK economy almost �400m in lost business.

"We are worried that many companies are just sticking their heads in the sand and hoping that the World Cup will simply go away," said the union's general secretary, John Edmonds.

"The reality is that when England are playing, Michael Owen and Joe Cole are going to be a much bigger draw than the office or the factory floor.

"If companies don't make sensible arrangements, then they are running the risk of waking up on the morning of the Argentina match to find three quarters of their staff bunking it for Beckham," Mr Edmonds said.

Sensible move

The Pru appears to have realised this, and it hopes its flexitime policy will turn out to be a cost saver.

Pru's staff will have to give their managers advance warning about which matches they want to see and how long they will be away from work.

As long as they stick to the rules, all they will have to do to justify their absence is to work a bit more later.

"The move is common sense and is a sensible way of managing our business," said Mr Wood.