As winter is making its exit many workers across the country are celebrating its departure by filling out their NCAA basketball tournament brackets. The tournament is well known for seizing the attention of workers throughout the United States. A study conducted by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global employment consulting firm, estimates that 50 million Americans participate in March Madness office pools each year. According to the study, that equates to $1.2 billion in revenue for every unproductive work hour during the first week alone.
Regardless of these scary numbers, John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, suggests that employers not try to clamp down on March Madness. The study reveals that initiatives to block access to sports sites, in order to boost productivity in the short term, could result in long-term damage to employee morale, loyalty and engagement. “Instead, employers may want to seek ways to use March Madness as a tool to increase employee engagement,” said Challenger.
This sentiment is also shared by David Fagiano, COO of Dale Carnegie Training, who believes that March Madness offers a great opportunity for employee engagement and overall team morale. “An office pool encourages healthy competition among colleagues. And as a result, co-workers can form personal bonds that not only boost collaboration but also engagement and productivity in the long run,” he added.
So what should employers do? Here are some approaches on how to handle employees during tournament:
- Employers have the right to strictly enforce a non-recreational Internet policy and monitor employee usage to ensure workers are being productive; or
- Employers shouldn’t be so worried about the estimates of lost work time due to March Madness because there are distractions every day at the office; or
- Employers might encourage team building and company morale by starting a company March Madness Bracket of their own (minus any gambling component — allow everyone to participate for free with token prizes for the winners).
Regardless of which approach an employer takes, employers should decide how they want to handle the March Madness season so that it can be addressed in a consistent manner and expectations can be clearly outlined for all employees.
For information about the Association’s Legal Services Division, contact Attorney Lamary-Toman at 814/833-3200, 800/815-2660 or tlamary@mbausa.org.
