March Madness costs more than time

Is March Madness impacting the American workplace? You betcha.

Office betting pools are expected to attract more than 37 millionplayers before the final buzzer sounds on April 7, with as many as1.5 million staffers watching full games online via their officecomputers.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in its annual estimate of thebottom line of workday time and energy lost to "March Madness,"puts the 2008 price tag at $1.7 billion. The Chicago-basedemployment firm comes up with that calculation using a complicatedformula involving 37.3 million U.S. workers spending a mere 10 minutes per day checking scores, bracket pool standings and chattingup co-workers regarding their prowess in picking the Sweet Sixteen,Elite Eight and Final Four.

Needless to say, hardcore basketball junkies and those organizingoffice pools are devoting hours, not minutes, each day in the gripsof March Madness.

CEO John Challenger said while the hoops hoopla offers anopportunity to build workplace morale and camaraderie, the economicimpact is undeniable.

"For public companies whose performance is judged on a quarterlybasis, a couple of hours of lost productivity can make a difference.For professional service firms billing clients by the hour, 10 or 15unproductive minutes out of an hour can be costly," Challenger saidin a statement regarding his annual lost time predictions.

Challenger, whose own office participates in NCAA and Super Bowlmerriment, also cautioned that unbridled use of company computers toview daytime games eats up more than employee productivity.

"Streaming video uses a large portion of bandwidth, which isprompting more and more employers to block access to any videosites, whether it's Youtube or March Madness On Demand," he said.

A joint venture by NCAASports.com and CBSSports.com, "MarchMadness On Demand" attracted 1.4 million unique users in 2007, whowatched an average of 1.9 hours of college basketball play-offaction. While the Internet service has not revealed exactly when theviewing took place, the site invites on-the-clock viewing with its"Boss Button" feature. When clicked, the "Boss Button" concealscourt action with a fake spreadsheet.

CareerBuilder.com, an online job site, has also taken a measureof workplace wagering and found 19 percent of all workers haveparticipated in March Madness pools, with 24 percent paying in morethan $10 to enter.

Men outscore women in wagering, with 24 percent of malesadmitting to bracket betting, while 19 percent of female staffershave jumped into the pool, according to the CareerBuilder poll.

Workers in the professional and business services industry arethe most fervent wagerers, with 33 percent indicating they've put afew bucks in the office pool. Hospitality industry employees rankedat the bottom of the pool gauge, with just 11 percent participation.

Yet another March Madness survey by staffing and recruiting firmSpherion Corp. found college basketball mania drives some workers toforego work altogether. In that poll, 10 percent of hoops fanscalled in sick to watch or attend a game.

e-mail: slinstedt@buffnews.com