Sunday is selection day for March Madness.  Do you have your brackets ready? Are your employees collecting money for the office pool?  Did you bump your internet speed? Have you even thought about any of this? You should!

50 million Americans will be participating in March Madness office pools, chances are some of them are your employees.  Gambling is Illegal in Illinois.  Organizing/Gambling in an office pool is actually a misdemeanor.  I know, HR squashing the fun again!  I don’t think you can stop THE MADNESS, I think you should use it to your advantage and improve employee morale!

Companies stand to lose $1.9 billion dollars for every unproductive hour during the first week of the tournament. Where does that come from? Checking brackets, recapping games and 56 percent of workers planned to spend at least one hour of their workday on March Madness activities. March Madness Live had 6.8 million unique visitors that streamed an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes.  Yep, they are watching at work too!

Embrace the Brackets and set some MADNESS themed goals.  Have everyone wear their favorite team spirit wear on Fridays through the Championship.  Print out the brackets and post them in your lunch room.  Assign the sports fanatic in your office to update it (he’s going to anyway for himself). Have each department pick a team and whoever’s team gets the farthest gets a reward. Maybe play the games in the break room.

Also, set some guidelines. Decide and inform your employees if live streaming or checking stats during work hours is allowed.  Be clear that you do not condone cash office pools; remind them about that pesky misdemeanor thing.  Go ahead and blame HR!  March will be all about balance, set your boundaries, but give a little.

The greatest teamwork and goal setting stories come out of this tournament.  Watch for them and expand on them in emails and meetings.  It’s a great way to relate to YOUR team.  Embrace the Brackets and the Madness! 

The 2015 Tournament Schedule link is here.

Print your official March Madness brackets here.

Infograph to print here.Basketball_Infographic

Previous Posts on March Madness:

Rise to the Occasion

Leadership in Louisville’s Kingdom