We’ve all heard about work-life balance. And while it’s important to maintain the "life" part of the equation in today’s 24-hour communications world, it’s also crucial while at the office to spend the vast majority of the time on the "work" function.
Thank goodness (reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas) fantasy football doesn’t appear to be upsetting that balance. Not exactly the top-of-mind business subject of the day, but remember that happy, contented employees are more productive employees. And fantasy players might have that more positive outlook — unless their star running back fumbled three times and never sniffed the end zone on Sunday afternoon.
According to Challenger:
In a survey of human resources professionals, the majority of respondents said fantasy football had little to no impact on productivity. Ranking the level of distraction on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being no noticeable impact, nearly 70 percent said four or lower. Less than eight percent of respondents said the level of distraction rated a 7 or 8 and none of the respondents felt the phenomenon deserved a 9 or 10.
The Challenger survey found that about one in five employers block access to sports and fantasy football websites. However, many simply look the other way with nearly half (46.2 percent) saying they do not care if employees spend part of their workday on fantasy football, as long as the quality and quantity of output does not decline. About 22 percent said they merely ask workers to limit fantasy football and other personal activities to lunch and other break times.
“It is difficult for companies to take a hard-line stance against fantasy football. The internet technology that helped fuel the rapid growth of fantasy football participation and makes it possible to manage teams from one’s desk also makes it possible for employees to attend to work duties during their personal time,” said John Challenger.