Is productivity suffering in your workplace? Blame basketball.
The NCAA men’s championship tournament kicks off this week, marking an extravaganza of online betting, obsessive bracket checking and relentless game watching — all during work hours.
March Madness means hell for IT divisions, which are often ill-equipped to handle the surge of online activity.
And college basketball usually means a loss for employers. The first week of the tournament will likely cost a collective $1.8 billion in “unproductive wages,” according to a study by Challenger, Gray &Christmas Inc.
How are employers responding?
“March Madness and the subsequent office pools have been going on long enough that employers can no longer claim to be caught off guard by the annual event,” John Challenger, CEO of the firm, told Computer World. “Some have tried to quash these pools . Most simply ignore them, and others have found ways to embrace the tournament as a team-building and morale-boosting opportunity.”
Know a small business you think we should write about? Contact Herald writer Amy Rolph at arolph@heraldnet.com.
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