March Madness at Work: Fun or Foul?

Rebecca Mazin
Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I hesitated when I wrote this title. A quick glance could conjure up an image of an unhappy ex-employee arriving armed to settle a grudge. If your thoughts went there, you are either very worried or only remotely connected to news and popular culture. Yup, I'm talking about NCAA basketball championships. It's time for HR professionals to think about their workplace gambling policy, or lack thereof.

The Dark Side

The very fact that the term "March Madness" has become common vocabulary to represent the big dance of college basketball sets the stage for disruption at work. Surveys are conducted and polls taken to tally the potential business costs of all those employees spending more time on brackets than brainstorming ideas for new products. The jury is out this year as to whether hours lost are really a burden. A recent Forbes article summarizes the different opinions nicely and still points out that IT pros are worried about overload to networks during the biggest games.

Distractions Galore in the Workplace

College basketball is not the only distraction available to employees at desks, on the road, or even in front of customers. There are videos, social networking, and let’s not forget shopping, which is no longer confined to Cyber Monday. Did you know that the guy in purchasing just used his personal buying power to book a cruise? He may not be packing for two months but he did make a mental list before lunch. There are plenty of options for losing time in cyberspace.

How Much Cash?

I’ll reserve my tips for taming rogue Web surfing for another time. As soon as the brackets appear, it’s the dollar signs that start to worry me. The winners and losers from football season are now counting out singles, fives, tens, and twenties in hopes of their own big win, or at least a recovery after previous bad bets. Your employee handbook, no matter how dusty, probably has a rule prohibiting gambling in the workplace. And how do you really feel about employees sharing this wealth, or loss, with vendors and customers?

This may be one time you are happy that you don’t have an employee handbook. You can’t break a rule that is not in writing, right? Well, you might want to enforce a standard. When the wagering extends to Las Vegas-style odds, it will be time to draw a line in the sand. That’s what employment attorneys advise when it’s time to enforce a rule. Why wait? Now is a good time to remind employees to jump into the pool on their own time.