March Madness and Productivity Loss

March Madness, three weeks of college basketball tournaments in the month of March, has been estimated to cost U.S. companies 3.8 billion dollars of lost productivity.

Various estimates and commentary:

• www.workfamily.com/MarchMadness.htm
• www.stltoday.com/blogs/business-mound-city-money/2006/02/productivity-madness/
• https://www.cpa2biz.com/Career/March+Madness+Workplace+Fun.htm

There can be upsides to such an energizing event as well, of course. What I wonder is whether any learning or organizational development initiatives might be wrapped around such events. Imagine the following:

1. Company intranet portal offers March Madness links, and also includes corporate advertising of key business initiatives, strategic messages, or even training opportunities.
2. Maybe company even makes links unavailable except through this central march-madness portal.
3. Managers initiate business-critical conversations in staff meetings after highlighting the latest results for the office pool.
4. Managers utilize March Madness frenzy for reward and recognition.

Anyway, those are just some ideas off the top of my head. I'd love to get your more thoughtful ideas in the comments. Better yet, have you seen any real-world implementations? Have they been successful?

Comments

[Tampa Web Design]

There undoubtedly is an impact on workplace productivity during March Madness. People in offices all over the country will attest to the fact that coworkers have taken vacation days or called in sick in order to watch the first round games.

[kitchen cabinets clearwater]

I think company even makes links unavailable except through this central march-madness portal.

[Just Energy]

Wonderful vector for spreading malware and virus March Madness the knee jerk dance of the media drones who must be entertained by external stimuli 24×7 because their souls are deadened by the dystopian society...

[About WFG]

It's probably a drain on things, Also, it brings people together.

[Christmas Island]

The ratio of the losses is really accurate! I would say, a great job done!

[Amy McCraken evergreen custom media]

Workers waste most of their time,"filling out their brackets,researching their teams and talking around the water cooler...This is what I have heard..