March Madness Can Be Costly in the Workplace

Chris Mills was quoted in on New Jersey 101.5 on March 17, 2015. The article “March Madness Can Be Costly in the Workplace” discussed how the NCAA basketball tournament also referred to as March Madness, can be a real productivity killer at the office.

Technically, running an office pool is against the law in New Jersey, said Chris.

“It is highly unlikely that law enforcement will go after anyone who is running a typical office pool where people are putting in $5 and $10, but they have gone after people who have run pools where the payout is sizable,” Chris said. “So, employers should not sponsor a pool.”

Employers should never try to force a policy that cannot be enforced.

“If an employer tells workers that they can’t check the scores, that’s a fool’s errand. If you ban it or block their computers from it, everyone has phones and they can check anyway.  It’s probably better to somehow get behind it and make sure normal rules on productivity are enforced,” Chris said. “No one wants to be the employer from hell who has no sense of humor. You want people to enjoy coming to work.”

Chris advised employers set up the following guidelines for their managers and supervisors to follow when it comes to office pools:

• Do not administer a pool;
• Do not take any cuts;
• Do not participate in a pool that is run by subordinates

 To read the full article, please visit NJ 101.5.