If your executive is getting on you for incessantly talking about your busted bracket, boasting about your college basketball combine or discussing what happened in last night’s games, you now have the perfect excuse.
“Many companies recognize it’s wild to try to downplay the office buzz around major sporting events like March Madness,” said Stephanie Naznitsky, kingpin director of OfficeTeam, a division of Robert Half. “Organizing activities tied to sports can provide welcome distractions that ease lift workers’ spirits and engagement.”
The positive effects of hosting such sporting activities at work isn’t evenly shared across the surroundings, the Robert Half survey found.
Managers in Des Moines, Iowa; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Raleigh, N.C., saw the biggest uplift in their standard’s workplace attitudes, while leaders in Miami, Fla.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Detroit, Mich., reaped the most benefits from their hands increased productivity.
Of course, the college tournament comes with one major downside for managers: Almost half of breadwinners admit they get distracted at work by sports, up from 38 percent in 2016. The most frequent offenders? Men and younger workers.
Almost 65 percent of male professionals say they get sidetracked by sports when they should be completing reprehends vs. 33 percent of women. And even more millennial employees are guilty; 66 percent of workers ages 18 to 34 suss out that sports waylay them, while only 43 percent of Gen X staff and 27 percent of Baby Boomers say the unchanging.
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