Episode 47: Super Bowl Flu, Gambling and Red Carpet Reviews: The Impact of Cultural Events in the Workplace

Welcome to the Workplace, a podcast by Cal Chamber. I'm Erica Frank, Cal Chamber's general counsel and executive vice president. And back on the podcast today is Jennifer Shaw of the Shaw Law Group. Welcome back, Jennifer.

Hi, Erica. It's great to be here, as always.

Okay, so we got a great one today. We are sandwiched right between the super bowl last Sunday and the upcoming Academy Awards show this coming Sunday. And being sandwiched between these two events certainly gives us a great opportunity to discuss the ways these iconic events can make their way into the workplace.

Yes. And it's funny, right? Because when we do training, we always talk about the workplace is separate from your private time and you have to have separate lines. But nobody does this, right? I mean, super bowl, everybody is talking about it today of those people who showed up at least, right?

Yeah. So let's talk about the super bowl first and kind of some of those issues that percolate into the workplace. I mean, unless you're an athlete playing in the bowl, you really shouldn't have that much to do with the Super Bowl. But we know that's not the case.

It blows my mind. I mean, I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not a big football fan, so my daughter was actually skiing during the super bowl because there was nobody up on the slopes. It was fabulous. But I was just thinking people are literally in a depression if you're a 49er fan or in a state of euphoria if you're a Chiefs fan. And they're totally letting it bleed to the workplace. There's jokes, there's inappropriate emails or inappropriate text messages. People ate too much chili con carne or whatever, and they're not coming to work on time today or at all. And it's so interesting, right? So part of it is really this idea of it really is a big part of people's lives. And I think people don't always understand that.

Well, and I think you raise a good point. So let's first talk about what you just mentioned. Having too much chili con carne or being so depressed because your Niners didn't win, which I was very sad about that as well. So we know that the super bowl is on a Sunday. So I'm sure there were many people that called out sick on Monday.

I'm sure they did super bowl flu.

For whatever it might be.

And obviously, California paid sick leave does not cover when you're out because you're depressed about the results of the super bowl or you ate too much food or whatever else is going on. I think it really highlights for employers how employees really just want to do what they want to do sometimes. Right? Yeah. So some people actually, and I've talked to a lot of clients where the employees actually already asked for the time off. They're like, look, I'm not coming in on Monday. I don't care who wins, who loses, what I eat. I know. I don't want to come. I'm not coming. Great. You take a vacation day, everything's fine. Planned absences are not so hard to deal with.

Right.

It's the ones where you literally have super bowl flu, like you said earlier, where folks just don't show up. Well, guess what? The work has to still be done. And I've had a couple of calls with clients today about what's happened earlier this week. You know, who showed up, who didn't show up. Very interesting.

Very interesting. And quite honestly, if someone calls out and says that they're sick, they're sick. And to your point, California's Healthy Families Sick Leave act, you're not going to.

Get a note from the doctor, you're not going to discipline them. You know, I tell employers, look, suspend reality, understand that it just is what it is, and move on.

The other thing, too, is, let's be honest, it's February, it's cold and flu season. For all we know, someone is legitimately ill even though it's falling outside the day after the Super Bowl.

Yes. And you certainly can't have a day after the super bowl sick leave policy where you say, you know, you can call in any day except the day after the Super Bowl. So part of the problem is what we go back to all the time with stereotypes. Right. We assume that anybody who called off sick the Monday after the super bowl must have done it because of the super bowl, which is just not true. There are going to be plenty of people, especially with what's been going on this year. There's a lot of illnesses out there and the flu's been really bad, and so people might just be legitimately sick. And what I tell employers is you don't get any mileage out of trying to get out your crystal ball and figure out what the heck actually happened. Just let it go.

Let it go. That's why we have it for our employees. Anyway, let it go.

It's a benefit you provide. Let it go. Now, I do know that one of our clients had a little potluck on the Monday after the super bowl, wanting to sort of bring everyone together because evidently there were some Pretty hard feelings about now. I told you, I'm not a football fan. But I guess there were a lot of negative feelings and a lot of judgment, name calling, all sorts of things. So this particular client said, we're going to Buca di Peppo, we're ordering in lunch, everybody get together. So I suppose you could also use it as a little bit of a team building exercise.

Well, that's interesting. But you also raise an issue, though, of bleeding into the workplace and maybe people being unsavory to others. That bantering, getting a little bit out of control, impacting how individuals are collaborating or working in the workplace.

Well, it definitely affects productivity. We know. Right, right. And that collaboration is so important to getting the job done. So I just think sometimes we just have to accept the way the world works. People will be upset the day after the Super Bowl. That may even last a week or two, depending on how big of a fan you are. So that doesn't mean we don't demand people behave appropriately. But you should anticipate it. I'm really talking to clients about that more lately. Just anticipate what might go wrong so that you're planning for it. You've got an idea of what to do.

Okay, so along those lines, you might have folks that don't show up today or the day after the super bowl because they are in mourning or they had too much food and drinks and whatnot. What about those that are showing up because they're ready to be paid out? I mean, let's be honest, how many people?

That's quite the pool. The pool. So our next door Neighbor, who is 10, picked the Chiefs like, I don't know, three months ago to win, but she picked the number four. And I said to her, how would the number four, I mean, I guess you could get two safeties, right? But that's about it. So all this gambling, it happens all the time. And what employers don't understand is not only is it an issue with just productivity in the moment. You have debts, you have people now who have gone to HR to say, oh, Jen owes me 50 bucks in the pool. She said she doesn't have the money. Could you take it out of her check? By the way, I hope we all know the answer to that is no. But this kind of stuff, it permeates, right? I don't want to work with Jen on my team team anymore. And, you know, I've literally had people say to me this week, well, how could you not care about football? Well, it's just not my thing Right. But there've been a lot of jokes and a lot of comments where it sort of got to the point where I was like, really? Can we talk about something else so it can create some drama in the workplace? That doesn't even make sense. Right. Just let people do their thing. Gambling, big problem.

Big problem.

And how are you going to pay the money? What are you going to do to get the money? How much time are they spending collecting the money? And let's not forget about the fact that it really isn't lawful.

Well, that's kind of the big one. Right. That no one really likes to talk about. It's a small detail that no one likes to talk about because there is an element of fun to, you know.

Football pools and Final Four, whatever it is. That's right.

Whether it's Super Bowl, March Madness or the Oscars, the Academy Awards, which we'll talk about in a second, which is dovetails nicely to your anticipation and anticipate plan ahead for things that are outside of the workplace but bleeding into the workplace. But one more thing just to talk about in the super bowl, the halftime show.

I was going to say we cannot go without talking about the halftime show.

We can't.

So part of it is, what are they wearing? Who are they? But there were jokes about Latin women. There were jokes. There's all kinds of things that have been bantered back and forth. And employers just have to know this is going to happen. I mean, I heard some rude comments about J. Lo's daughter. Are you kidding me? She's 11.

So. And I think that that could be kind of the bigger banter that we see. Right. That bleeds right into the Oscars because as we know, the red carpet is always my best. One of my things that I love to watch.

Why else do you watch?

Right, right. What is everybody wearing? You know, my Sunday is blocked off for me and the tv. Right. And let's be honest, what the celebrities wear many times is certainly not something that's going to be revealed in the workplace, but it creates a lot of chatter. So whether we're talking about the super bowl halft, as you just mentioned, there's a lot of issues there. Not only could it be harassment related issues, but discrimination related issues and issues related to national origin, all of which are protected classes in California.

Exactly.

So let's talk about the Academy Awards.

Well, it's interesting, right, because politics come into play. You know, who's on the voting panel, and we know members vote, but we also know there's a lot of Interesting things out there.

Yes.

There's been a lot of discussion this year about Greta Gerwig not getting chosen, you know, in the. The best director category. Sort of odd when you have adapted screenplay and you have potentially the best film, but not the director. And it started when they announced the awards. Right. There was the comment made about, oh, those men must be so happy. Right. Well, this kind of stuff bleeds into the workplace where you start talking about, all right, is there sexism? What side are you on? It's no different, really, than talking about the impeachment that's been on a lot of people's televisions over the last couple of weeks as well. And it's just a distraction that gets people off of work. But it also, I think, more importantly has a personal element where people get very connected to their views. And it's not just about what people are wearing. Certainly we could have a lot of discussions about what people should not have been wearing at the Academy Awards and what sort of looks good and what doesn't. But it also gets to the next level of what films are being nominated for foreign films. What are the presenters saying? We know the presenters often are taking this opportunity to make political statements. People have responses to those political statements. When you read the blogs after these kinds of events, it's fascinating.

Well, and I think that we're going to see and hear a lot of political statements during the award show itself. We've already saw some of that when we were looking at the. Listening to the. Or watching, I should say, the Golden Globes.

That's right.

And the commentary that's been written. So, keeping with the theme of anticipation, which I think is fantastic, what are some takeaways that we can provide to employers as we're leaving the super bowl and heading right into another event on a Sunday with Monday right around the corner.

With Monday coming. Right. Well, there are a couple things that I think are important. One of them is to acknowledge to people, listen, we're not asking you to not talk about these events. First of all, that's unrealistic. You're not going to enforce it. And if you have a policy like that, it's very draconian and it doesn't make any sense.

Right.

So one of the things that I think is important and a lot of our clients have done this, you have a little potluck before the event where you say, hey, we're having bagels and cream cheese. By the way, folks, we all know this weekend's the Oscars. There may be a lot of Political things. I just want to remind you. And we can do it in a funny way, right? Just want to remind you what the expectation is for the work environment. Make sure that you really watch your comments. We know some of you are very passionate about some of the subject matters of the films. Some of the people who are in the films just want to remind you that the workplace is G rated and we need to all collaborate. We all need to be together. Right? So that's one thing. The second thing is I think sometimes employers wait too long to take action because they think, okay, it's the Academy Awards. I mean, what am I supposed to say here? But they have to be decisive. And that's one of the things I'm seeing more and more, is an employer has got to be able to say, hey, enough, enough. We're not talking about this anymore. Get back to work. So we can try the softer approach in advance. But if it doesn't work, sometimes you just have to cut off the conversation. And I cannot tell you the number of clients we have worked with who have not cut off the conversations, whether it be about the super bowl, about the Oscars, whatever it might be politics. And then it gets so far that they have a claim and they think, oh, my gosh, I could have actually done something about this if I had just taken a more. More decisive approach and said, look, this is work. We have a lot going on. I hear there's a lot of strong feelings and emotions on this topic. Let's move on. Put it in a box. Let's move on.

Move on.

Yep.

Stick it in a bottle, send it out to sea. Goodbye.

That's right.

All right, what about the workplace pools? Bingo. You know, whatever it might be, how do we handle that? Because, you know, it's done. Not only Super Bowl, Oscars, March Madness, I mean, it's easy to find on the Internet. You know, what should employers be doing addressing workplace gambling?

Well, here's what I think employers really need to decide. First, it is illegal. Okay? Now, I'm not saying that the DA is going to press charges, but you do need to know if you have a workplace ethics policy. Pretty inconsistent to allow gambling as part of that process. I think a lot of employers are just hesitant to say no, but the truth is it shouldn't be happening. You can have informal discussions about it. We can sort of say, well, this is who I think is going to win. This is what I think is going to happen. But if you're going to allow full scale, get your money into Betty by two you're going to get your grid. This is what we're doing. Then just be prepared for the consequences because there's no magic bullet. Once you've allowed that to happen, the train has left the station, so you've got to back it up a little bit and think about, okay, if I'm prepared for that, fine. If you're not, then take some action up front to let people know why. Look, it's not that we don't want you to have fun. It's not that you can't talk about it, but this is illegal context. And we're really serious about our workplace ethics policy. Or, you know, integrity is a big deal to us. And we want to make sure that nobody feels slighted, nobody feels left out. So this is what we're going to do.

Well, as always, Jennifer, there's always so much to say and there's just never enough time. But great stuff today.

Thank you.

Exciting time in February to be see how much between two fantastic events.

Yes. I can't wait.

I know. Me too. It's one of my favorite, favorite events to watch. Absolutely. Until next time.

Sounds good.

Thanks, Erica, and thanks for listening to the Workplace. Please subscribe, share and comment about Cal Chambers podcast by visiting calchamber.com.