Wimbledon | Can employees have their wages docked for poor effort?

Tennis player Bernard Tomic has been fined his full Wimbledon prize money of £45,000, due to a lack of effort after his opponent defeated him within just 58 minutes – Sky News reported.

The Australian player was slammed with the highest-ever fine after officials at the All England Club ruled that he “did not perform to the required professional standard”.

Yet, this isn’t the first instance that this has happened. The Daily Mail reported that Tomic was fined £15,000 back in 2017 following a defeat where he admitted feeling ‘bored’ at Wimbledon.

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Perspective of HR | Should you be paid for being happy at work?

While Tomic’s case happened at a high-stake sporting event rather than in a typical working environment, there are key takeaways for HR about monitoring employee effort and penalising lazy staff.