Take a quick look around the office, if people appear to be staring a little too intently at a screen proclaiming, “March 2010 Work Flow Design,” your finance department is fully enraptured by March Madness.
I’m referring to the “Boss Button” on CBS.com — a button that helps workers who are watching NCAA tournament games at their desks avoid detection from managers and supervisors.
With this year’s model, when a user clicks on the Boss Button, a realistic-looking PowerPoint slide appears.
So, let’s cover the latest findings on lost productivity because of March Madness.
Employment outplacement firm Challenger, Grey and Christmas estimates that NCAA office pools will create $1.8 billion in lost productivity — with the average worker wasting 100 minutes just in the first week of the tournament. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament runs from March 18-April 5.
While many employers simply accept March Madness as an inevitable productivity drain, an increasing number of companies are taking steps to clamp down on office pools and workplace gambling.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), one in three employers (33%) have policies in place to limit office pools and workplace gambling. That’s a significant increase from the 14% of employers that had such policies in place in 2006.
Despite the lost productivity, some feel that March Madness has an extremely positive effect on the workplace — in the form of increased morale, camaraderie, etc.
Does March Madness affect your workplace? Do you think office pools should be banned from the workplace, or should employers let it go? Share your thoughts in our Comments section.
