March Madness and Worker Productivity

It's that time of year . . . and here in the Hoosier state it may be even more pronounced than elsewhere (especially this year when the home town team actually gets to play). March Madness. Worker productivity grinds to a halt today and tomorrow as nearly everyone gets caught up in following his or her favorite team and tracking his or her successes and failures in the office pool.

Today's USA Today reports on the productivity losses associated with March Madness.

Some excerpts:

Employers will lose $237 million in wages for every 13.5 minutes workers spend on the Internet tracking games, according to an estimate by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas . . . .

A big new draw: CBS Sports is offering online viewing live, except for locally televised games. For about 12 hours on Thursday and Friday, as many as 200,000 people will be able to simultaneously view games. In all, millions may watch . . . .

Given the expected crush to view CBS' service — and other tournament-related websites — some corporate computer networks might be taxed, says Mike Hronek, a networking engineer at information technology firm CDW. "If a company is not set up to handle excessive traffic, it could certainly slow network performance," he says. "The company could block access to certain websites, but their employees might head to other sites" . . . .

An estimated $4 billion to $5 billion will be wagered on the 63-game tournament this year — about a third on the Internet, says gaming consultant Michael Tew.