March 19, 2006 - Article

Office madness: Productivity drops as tourney goes on

By Paul Monies
The Oklahoman

Some bosses get into the spirit of the month and sponsor office pools for frenzied bettors.

PRODUCTIVITY took a nose-dive Friday afternoon at offices across Oklahoma.

With the Iowa-Northwestern State game coming down to the final seconds, nervous employees sneaked a glance at the closest television or furtively checked the Internet before a last-second three-pointer won the game.

Upsets such as Northwestern State's are why the annual NCAA men's basketball tournament affects office productivity like no other sporting event. First-round games tipped off Thursday and continued Friday.

One Web site, www.cbssportsline.com, offers live games online, taking the temptation to slack off to new heights. It even has a "Boss Button" that brings up a fake spreadsheet if a supervisor lurks nearby.

But many employers embrace March Madness, figuring that employees are going to be distracted anyway. Some, such as Accord Human Resources Inc. in Oklahoma City, openly sponsor office pools and set up televisions in break rooms.

"Yeah, it affects productivity, but I don't feel like we're getting carried away," said Dale Hageman, president and chief executive officer. "If people

have a little bit of fun with it, then it probably helps productivity in the long run."

Across town, Chesapeake Energy Corp. allows employees to pay $5 for each bracket in an office pool, said Rachel Samara, an associate title landman. The company donates half of the money collected to United Way.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates hoops fans will cost their companies $3.8 billion in lost wages as they check scores and watch games at work. And that's not counting the ones who play hooky around tourney time, developing suspicious maladies.

"I developed a stomach virus about 11:15 (Thursday) that will keep me out of commission until Sunday evening," joked a local professional, who asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. "Next Thursday I have a migraine scheduled for 11:05."

Mike Carnuccio calls this his favorite time of year. In college, he'd skip classes to watch the games. Luckily, his boss -- former OU basketball player Renzi Stone -- doesn't mind the tourney distraction.

"I planned at the beginning of the week that I'd do a lot more in-office tasks that wouldn't require a lot of meetings," said Carnuccio, who works at Saxum Communications in Oklahoma City. "This way I can still be productive and get to watch the games."

Carnuccio downloaded the streaming Webcast of games for his computer, allowing him to keep an eye on close games as he works on projects. CBS Sports used to charge $19.95 for the Webcasts but made the service free this year for first-, second- and third-round games.

The Webcasts take up a lot of network capacity and can affect network operations at larger companies. The IT department at Express Personnel Services in Oklahoma City noticed a spike in Web traffic during the Winter Olympics and asked employees to avoid using the Internet for nonbusiness purposes, spokesman Sean Simpson said.

Brad Thomas, vice president of technology at Perimeter Technology Center in Oklahoma City, said as few as five people watching online can slow down an office's high-speed T1 connection.

"I'm sure some IT folks are pulling their hair out right now," Thomas said.

Meanwhile, Carnuccio entered several tournament pools, including one with his roommates where the loser has to cook dinner. He picked the University of Connecticut to win in all his pools and has one simple rule for success.

"If there's ever a female that's never participated before, you don't get in a pool with them because they win," he said. "It's the luck thing. My sister and a girlfriend before have both gotten me."

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