Fantasy football’s back — so long, productivity?
September 18, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: HR Tech, In this week's e-newsletter - Tech, Latest News & Views
It’s football season again, and you know what that means — time for many of your employees to pretend they’re managing their own NFL team, often at the company’s expense.
Just how big is the blow to employers? One study by Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc., estimates a nationwide productivity loss of between $275 to $435 million each week of the season. With 17 weeks of football, those numbers really add up.
Another study by the Sporting Goods Marketing Association says fantasy footballers spend an average of 45 minutes every day managing their teams.
That’s a lot of time in the week, much of which is likely done between 9 and 5 — especially considering leagues are often formed among co-workers. What’s HR to do?
Experts warn against blanket bans. Allowing participation can help build camaraderie, and there are plenty of responsible folks who can play the game and still get all their work done.
Your best bet: Have managers tackle productivity problems on a case-by-case basis. There are infinite ways employees can waste time, and you can’t ban them all.
Tags: challenger gray & christmas, fantasy football, productivity
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
We have asked our employees to form their teams at breaks and lunch. A little bit of time spent discussing the teams are okay. After all they are permitted to visit about any other subject. We don’t stand over our employees with a whip and they get their jobs done in a timely manner. Some have even started having get togethers after work to take care of the more timely chores of forming and managing a team.
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 am
45 minutes a day! I have 3 teams and if I spend more then 20 minutes total each week that is a lot. (I am in first place in 2 out of the 3) I will say, it is amazing the difference in how companies handle this. I have worked at a compay that even if you mentioned Fantasy football you would be fired. If you sent out an email with the word fantasy, you would be walked out. I am not kidding! another company tried to stop the leauge but everything was done off site We were not allowed to have any money transactions during work, but were allowed to talk about, to a company that allowed us to have our draft during lunch in the conference room and was not concerned that our lunch was extended a bit. Companies need to understand that the social interaction that is generated by these types of activities outweigh the cost as long as it is controlled.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
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