Employers Not Penalized by Fantasy Football

10.25.2010
HR & Safety

With the NFL season well under way, a majority of human resource professionals surveyed say allowing their workers to participate in fantasy football has little or no impact on workplace productivity.

On a scale of 1 to 10 rating workplace distractions, with 1 being no noticeable impact, nearly 70% of human resource pros gave fantasy football a score of 4. Less than 8% said the level of distraction rates a 7 or 8, and none of the respondents felt it deserved a 9 or 10.

The survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas also found that about one in five employers block access to sports and fantasy football websites. Many simply look the other way with nearly half (46.2%) 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% said they ask workers to limit fantasy football and other personal activities to lunch and other break times.

Fantasy football is becoming so popular it may be difficult for employers to stop it, even if they wanted to, says Challenger. Moreover, an across-the-board ban could backfire in the form of reduced morale and loyalty. The result could be far worse than any loss of productivity caused by 15 to 20 minutes of team management each day.

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