It's March Madness which means office pools, periodically getting the NCAA basketball tournament scores on the radio or the Internet during the work day. However, this year CBS Sportsline is offering free video streaming of the 56 basketball games in the first three rounds making it even more tempting to be a slacker while at work. I checked it out yesterday (yes while at work) and the video quality was pretty good. When you first pick a game to stream you go into a waiting queue and it tells you where you are in line. It said I was 19,432 in line. Ouch! I said forget that, I'll never get in. But noticed that every 30 seconds it updates the line queue and it dropped a few thousand, so I figured I'd wait it out. Sure enough I was in within about 5 minutes. The first game I picked was Boston College vs. Pacific, a really thriller going into double overtime. But wouldn't you know it, the video player said that due to "local airing restrictions" it was blacked out and I couldn't watch the game. Must be using IP address geolocation to figure out I lived near the Boston area. Technically, I live in Connecticut - in UCONN Husky territory (also my alma mater) and closer to the New York market than the Boston market, so this blackout algorithm seemed a bit overly strict to me.
So then I tried another game and was able to stream it. After watching about 2 minutes of the video & audio quality my curiousity was satisfied, I turned it off and I returned to work. But this got me thinking about sports fanatics that can't just "turn it off". I know several coworkers were worried they wouldn't be able to get their NCAA "fix" and check scores online since we use Websense, an Internet filtering software program to limit personal surfing, pornography, etc. We're not draconian about our Internet filtering - we do allow the sports category during lunch hours along with a 20 minute quota time that employees can use any time, which should be enough for anyone to check scores while not spending their entire workday "glued" to NCAA news coverage. Leveraging freedom + employee morale against employee productivity and abuse is always a challenge for any corporation.
Indeed my thoughts about employee productivity were confirmed by a USA Today article today which says, "As if the distractions of the March Madness tournament didn't bedevil bosses enough, advances in technology could reduce productivity to a crawl this year." It explains that free streaming video is affecting productivity in the workplace and adds "Then, there are the millions who plan on checking scores and contest pools online. The madness, which starts Thursday and concludes with the championship game April 3, is expected to have a significant impact on workplaces as perhaps no other major sporting event." According to the article, employers (as a whole) will lose $237 million in wages for every 13.5 minutes workers spend on the Internet tracking games.
The USA Today article states, "Everybody is in office pools. The games are on until I leave," says Graham Atkinson, principal of HR Staffing Solutions in Fayetteville, N.Y. He watches games on TV in his office and checks scores online. "You can't reach clients. You can't reach anybody. Many people just take personal days (off), and there's no question as to why. ... It takes over."
I wasn't the only one in the office experimenting with streaming NCAA basketball games. A coworker stopped by and said "Hey, did you know you can stream NCAA basketball games on CBS Sportsline?" I didn't ask him if he just did it for curiosity or if he actually watched the games, but it might explain why our Internet access was a little sluggish yesterday.
Ok everyone, come clean. How much time did you spend checking NCAA scores or streaming games while at work? Cleanse your soul and redeem yourself by confessing your sins in the comments section.
NCAA March Madness = Lower Productivity
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NCAA March Madness = Lower Productivity TrackBack URL : http://blog.tmcnet.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/24278
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I would say about 5 mintues at the most. Pulled up the page once every 2 hours look at the scores compare to my bracket and close. Less than 30 seconds per look. But of course the day is not over yet and it is almost time for another updated look. Should I count the time it took me to read this article about and comment on it??? I will probably be just over 5 minutes or so by the end of the day.
Umm you are being "draconian" by limiting people 20 min. of surf time.
The company I work for just established the same type of policy. But you know, it is for the best. Because they save bandwidth, and I get to save my soul. See, I quit procrastinating spending my few extra minutes googling blogs in my spare time and instead started look for jobs in the newspaper or talking to coworkers about "connections" for other jobs. I think the idea that there is a "loss of productivity" is b.s. How much extra productivity have your workers GIVEN in the last year due to technology enhancements. ...have you guys implemented any Blackberry's or Bluetooth technology in the last few years? Yea maybe the company HAS become a little more productive huh so think it is hard to believe the company is loosing all this productivity time in net value. And Do you really think they say, "damn, I can't get my bball fix through the internet, oh well, back to work."
YOu take away little things like march madness in the name of "productivity" and pretty soon your employees start wondering why they are working so hard 99% of the time.
Sorry, I took your blog post a little personal. It sounds a lot like my bosses talking around the office this week. I work hard for my employer and a little basketball I don't think is too much.
All the best. and I hope you joined an office pool--especially since you are a UCONN alum!
Justin
Justin,
They can surf the entire web throughout the day to almost every single category except p-rn, sports, hacking, and 1-2 more.
Also they can surf ALL categories except p-rn & hacking during lunch time which we set to a 2 hour period - (12pm - 2pm). The 20 minutes of quota surf time allows them to look up sports in the morning or late afternoon during non-lunch hours.
But again they can surf pretty much any category with a few exceptions throughout the work day. The 20 minute quota is just to give a little extra freedom to do some personal surfing without waiting for the 12pm-2pm time-frame. Seems pretty fair to me.
When I was younger, my father would always come home with a March Madness pool from work. His boss was the one who actually ran this office pool. For the past couple of years I have not seen another one of these work pools. My father’s company which he works for banned office pools in the workplace. As you have pointed out many individual involved in the pools use company time to either fill out the brackets or even check out the scores. Some even make copies in the workplace using company paper, ink, copy machines etc. As a business student studying management, I realize the negative aspects that these pools can have on workers. Company time needs to be utilized to have a successful business. Yet, you must promote an exceptional work environment for your employees. I have worked on an assembly line before I know how monotonous the work can be. These pools can promote relief from a hard days work or even encourage better relationships amongst employees.
Another situation which needs to be addressed is the usage of March Madness pools by college students. Specifically, the college students play on a college basketball team. Like the workers, those who wish to be in a pool must do it “under the table”. Strict NCAA rules restrict player’s to gamble. If caught harsh sanctions can be given to the player and the school. This is similar to those in the workplace. Being written up or even termination can result in these pools.
March Madness is a great time to watch basketball. Filling out brackets are also a good way to have fun with colleagues or fellow students. Yet, one should only participate in these pools at the appropriate time.