March Madness Slam-Dunks Business Productivity

That sound you hear on SharePoint and other business apps? Crickets. Why? Two words: March Madness.

Conferencing provider InterCall did a survey to gauge the extent to which the NCAA tournament games impact employee productivity. The results may or may not surprise you, depending on your level of college b-ball passion.

Last year, fans watched an average of 377 minutes of NCAA tournament games in 2014, up 26% from 2013. Much of that viewing time, it seems, happens while people are “working.”

The study, conducted among 500 outside, full-time employees, found that 56% of respondents stream games at work, while 43% said they have gone so far as to reschedule a recurring conference call in order to watch a game.

Those who don’t reschedule conference calls are focusing more on three-pointers than on Joe in marketing’s weekly departmental update: 42% of respondents said they actually watch games during conference calls. At least many of these workers are courteous enough to mute either themselves (11%) or the game (31%).

Employees that have to get a little more creative (and perhaps sneaky) have found some interesting spots to catch the game, including the bathroom, supply closets and, um, Chuck E. Cheese’s?