March Madness is an exciting time for basketball enthusiasts, but it’s an unproductive time for American workplaces, MarketWatch reports.
A new study by executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates that American businesses will lose up to $2.1 billion in productivity during March Madness, the nickname for the NCAA basketball tournament.
That’s assuming that as many as 81.5 million workers will spend an hour this week researching and filling out their brackets, as well as time spent watching the midday games later in the week.
“The economy has created more workers and a higher hourly wage, which could equate to higher costs to employers,” Challenger says in a statement. “In the current political climate, more American workers might welcome this distraction leading to an even higher cost of productivity.”
Still, Challenger notes that happy employees are more productive employees, and that banning office pools will only hurt morale.
“Employers should embrace March Madness and seek ways to use it as a tool to foster camaraderie,” the company says. Employers should instead eye the long-term bottom line, and suggested starting office pools, setting up TVs in common areas and giving longer lunch breaks to watch games.
