March Madness Gambling Not Necessarily Detrimental to Workplace Productivity
Office sports gambling pools have long been disparaged by bosses and industrial efficiency experts as a waste of time; as simply another costly distraction that keeps employees from achieving their productivity potentials. However, a new study suggests that, although office gambling pools may distract employees’ noses from the grindstone, the workplace wagering may fuel something that is equally important to a pleasant and productive office environment: an air of camaraderie.
With March Madness quickly and loudly in play, with an April 3rd conclusion date, the new study is nothing if not current. March Madness is the nationwide U.S. tournament of men’s college basketball, and a perennial favorite of sports gamblers. In offices and other workplaces across the United States, everyone from the secretary to the chief executive to the janitor is participating in the employee pool.
With the University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team, the UC Huskies, as one of the March Madness tournament’s participants, a Connecticut research group decided to put the voice of conventional wisdom to the test, and to find out once and for all how office sports betting affects worker productivity and satisfaction.
Peter Gioia, an economist with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said that some people might be surprised by the results of his organization’s study. Office sports betting, according the investigation he headed, serves an important role in creating a positive work atmosphere, boosting spirits and camaraderie all- around.
"One of the things that's important in any business is getting people to talk to each other, building morale and having a local team like U. Conn lifts spirits," Gioia told The Connecticut Post.
Gioia said that many employers host social events for their workers and client around the March Madness tournament, and around other similar sporting events.
In response to the nay- sayers, who claim that the time that employees spend watching the basketball games on their office computers (this is the first March Madness in which real- time games are streamed on computers) or checking charts profile winners and losers costs companies as much as $3.8 billion dollars in lost productivity over just a few weeks of basketball tournaments, Gioia calls the allegations “laughable.”
"Time does not always equate to production," Gioia said. "Working smart does not equate to working long."
Sgt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, said that the office pools are totally legal, so long as the organizers are not taking a cut.
"It crosses the line if someone takes a portion of the money," Vance said.
However, problem gambling experts worry that sports gambling pools in the office send employees a potentially harmful message.
"Once you let gambling into the workplace, it's an implicit sanction by employers. It's a short step from betting on a pool to making illegal wagers," said Martin A. Steinberg of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling.
March Madness Gambling Not Necessarily Detrimental to Workplace Productivity
Office sports gambling pools have long been disparaged by bosses and industrial efficiency experts as a waste of time; as simply another costly distraction that keeps employees from achieving their productivity potentials.
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