Are You Ready for Some Football? Your Employees Are

For an ever-growing segment of the work force, September marks the beginning of one of the most distracting periods of the year: football season. Employers need to be concerned about employees spending work time and using company computers to manage their fantasy football teams throughout the week. The main concern for employers is undoubtedly the loss of productivity caused by football-related activities. It's been estimated the number of American workers who played fantasy football in 2005 was anywhere between 20 million and 40 million, and this number is expected to rise again for the 2006 season. So, what can employers do about this problem? Employers can decide to take a hard-line, old-school approach, or they can try to be more flexible and accommodate their employees' football fixation. A company that wants to compromise between these position might try to limit employees' personal Internet use while at work, using restrictive software to cap non-work Internet use at two hours per week, or only allow certain websites to be accessed. Either way, companies should decide how to handle the new football season so that it can be addressed in a consistent manner.

The full text of this article can be found in the September 7, 2006 issue of The Daily Journal of Commerce - Portland, OR.