Video: High Interest Equals Low Productivity For Many During Tournament Season

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Some employers are concerned about the lack of productivity in the workplace that March Madness brings.

March Madness is the best time of year for basketball fans, but not so much for some employers.

“There’s more than enough distractions to go around in the day-to-day workplace, and this is just another big one that takes up pretty much the whole month of March,” said Bruce Johnson, CPI Group.

An estimated 50 million Americans are participating in office pools, and a new survey shows companies could lose more than a billion dollars for every unproductive work hour this first week of the tournament.

“You can’t deny the fact that during the day, people are on their phones, they’re checking their brackets, they’re bouncing things off their friends. It’s going to hurt their ability to be productive,” Johnson said.

But Johnson says March Madness can be good for some businesses, like the restaurant and hospitality industries.

And, of course, it’s beneficial for sportscasters, like WCBI’s own Robby Donoho.

“The best part about these bracket challenges and filling out your bracket, is that you could not know a thing about any of the 68 teams that are in the tournament, and you could win the entire thing,” Robby said.

That was enough encouragement to get WCBI’s Emily Cassulo to fill out her first bracket.

Robby says there are a lot of underdogs this year, and it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen. But that’s what makes this madness fun – even if you lose.

“Here’s my bracket,” Robby said. “I’m going to throw it away right now because I had everything, I just lost everything. That’s probably what’s going to happen.”

As for the rest of you, may the best team win.  And try yo get your work done.

Robby says he will be giving bracket tips throughout the week on WCBI News.