After 5: Madness Invades the Office

Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, it’s that time of year when college basketball tournament brackets begin circulating around the office and everyone becomes a hoops expert.

Are they a deterrent to work or a fun morale builder?

“I think they’re both,” says Jeff Johnson, owner and president of Ozark advertising agency The Team Inc. “A lot of places frown on that. In our business, we see the benefit side of it, too. We enjoy the fun. Everybody gets to have fun – water-cooler talk, rivalries, keeping track.”

Some employers, however, have a different take.

“I don’t know that there is a formal policy against it, but it’s pretty much not encouraged,” says Louise Whall-Knauer, director of public information for the city of Springfield. “Beyond the betting issue, it shouldn’t be a focus in the office.”

At The Team, the staff has taken March Madness participation to a new level.

Johnson’s been running the annual college basketball pool at his company for about 15 years. Gone are the days of manually scratching one’s picks on paper.

“We’re in the age of electronics and Web sites that manage this stuff for you,” Johnson says, noting that his office uses www.tournamentpools.com. “It costs $1 a player. ... We’ve got people all over the country that play in this thing now. I think we’ve got 150 through social media and other networks.”

According to the 2010 Office Pool Survey, conducted by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Spherion Staffing Services, 45 percent of workers have participated in an office pool before and 56 percent of those who have participated specifically took part in March Madness pools.

Fueling participation in office pools is the fact that 49 percent of surveyed workers say their employer doesn’t have an office pool policy, and another 37 percent of workers don’t know if an office pool policy exists at their company.

The survey also found that of those U.S. workers who have participated in an office pool, 68 percent named “for the fun of participating” as their reason to participate, 57 percent cited “office camaraderie,” and another 52 percent said “to win money.”