Germans should be allowed to watch the football World Cup on television at work without getting into trouble with their superiors, the head of the national employers' association said Thursday.

德国雇主协会主席于本周四称，德国公司应允许员工们在上班时观看世界杯赛电视转播，老板们应对此表示宽容。

Dieter Hundt, often called the "boss of the bosses", called on companies to cut their staff a little slack（松懈的，疏忽的） when footballmania strikes over the next month.

"I am confident that employers, while considering the needs of their businesses, will react flexibly and, together with their workforces¹, develop their own policies," he told the daily Berliner Zeitung.

Every company needs to decide for itself "to what extent it can strike a balance with the broadcast of World Cup games and working hours".

Hundt's counterpart at the German Federation² of Trade Unions, Michael Sommer, welcomed the employers' pledge of tolerance³ when asked by the Berliner Zeitung（柏林日报） .

Watching soccer together encourages "team cohesion⁴（凝聚力） and staff motivation," he argued.

He noted⁵ that several of the World Cup matches in South Africa were taking place in the early afternoon, including the second match featuring the German side, against Serbia on June 18.