March Madness and the Workplace

Now that the office Super Bowl pool is a distant memory, bosses are now bracing for March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament that is expected to captivate hours of workers’ time and will likely drain the output of a number of companies.

Games started on March 15^th and global outplacement consultancy firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC) has quantified in a new report the financial blow private businesses will take as a result of workplace distractions caused by the tournament.

With easier online accessibility to the basketball games as well as free mobile applications, viewership during business hours is expected to rise.  CGC predicts total online tournament viewership during typical office hours is likely to reach 8.4 million hours in the U.S. and cost nearly $200 million in lost productivity.

Despite the disruptions, other workplace experts believe March Madness may provide a morale boost, or, at minimum, a respite from a challenging economic environment.   A psychologist at the University of Richmond in Virginia believes March Madness can be a powerful social process that brings people throughout the office together – from the corner offices to the mailroom.

So will your business embrace or banish March Madness?