Each year, much ink, including virtual, is spilled on the negative effects March Madness has on workplace productivity.
For instance: According to a 2011 survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, productivity loss due to March Madness cost companies $192 million last year, amounting to about 8.4 million hours of work.
Of course, the survey also noted that that’s relatively miniscule in the scheme of things:
But the CEO of the firm, John Challenger, put that number in perspective.
“At first glance, 8.4 million hours of lost productivity seems like it would deliver a crushing blow to the economy. Over the three weeks of the tournament, the nation’s 108 million workers will have logged more than 11 billion hours of work. The 8.4 million hours lost to March Madness is a relative drop in the bucket, accounting for less than one-tenth of one percent … of the total hours American workers will put in over the three weeks of the tournament.”
And, of course, this also assumes that you’re productive every single minute you’re at the office, which is simply not true.
