Tangible perks like a generous salary and employee benefits in the form of health insurance may make for a happy employee, but there are those intangible qualities that are priceless and can't be replicated quite as easily, like camaraderie and positive staff morale. The controlled chaos that is March Madness is one of the ways in which this hard-to-achieve ideal is reached, so suggests a new study.
What December is to Christmas enthusiasts, March is to college basketball fans. Over the next two weeks, 68 of colleges' and universities' best men's basketball teams will engage in what is one of the more popular sporting events of them all – the NCAA Tournament, or what's come to be known as "March Madness." Whether for bragging rights or just as a way to have fun, millions of Americans will participate in office pools, each predicting who they think will win it all in Indianapolis for the championship game on "the Road to the Final Four."
Television network CBS carries the games on a variety of channels – both on television and online – making it tempting for workers to see what's going on during one of the dozens of games from their work desk. While some studies suggest that this results in millions of dollars lost in work productivity, business owners and employees say otherwise, according to a recent poll.
Approximately 50 percent of senior managers indicated that the college basketball playoffs boosted employee morale, based on a survey conducted by recruitment and staffing solutions firm OfficeTeam. Additionally, more than one-third – 36 percent – said that they saw work productivity improve over the fortnight that is March Madness.
Robert Hosking, OfficeTeam executive director, indicated that contrary to popular belief, the NCAA basketball tournament can inject new life into work environments.
"Employers that encourage staff to enjoy events like March Madness recognize that these activities don't have to be viewed as negative workplace distractions," said Hosking. "Organizing friendly contests or watching big games together can give employees much-needed breaks and opportunities to build camaraderie."
Set some ground rules
At the same time, though, important work-related projects can't be put on the back burner just because there are opportunities to bond over the game of basketball. Human resources experts say that business owners and employee managers should talk about the upcoming basketball tournament so that employees understand what's expected. They may even want to come up with a goal for how much to accomplish so staff members have something to "shoot" for as they exercise their time management skills.
Why are Americans so "mad" about March Madness? Researchers from Ashford University have attempted to answer this question. According to Pamela Vincent, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the Clinton, Iowa-based institution of higher learning, it stems from a combination of factors that humans as a species delight in, like contests, the thrill of the chase associated with upset victories and the enjoyment of watching talented people practice their craft.
"Humans have an innate drive toward competition, a leftover trait stemming from times when it was necessary to compete for food, shelter, and mates in order to survive," said Vincent. "Although the need to hunt for food and safety aren't there to the same extent today, we still enjoy that competitive spirit when it comes to things like sports."
After the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, fans will be able to fill in their brackets for their office pool. No one has ever had a perfect bracket, done by accurately predicting the winner of every game. According to a DePaul University math professor, the odds of getting them all right in this year's tourney are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, Time Magazine reported.
