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DEL.ICIO.USCompanies fear spread of March Madness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you believe some business execs, productivity at the U.S. workplace will begin a 19-day decline today. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection will be able to watch NCAA tournament games for free. Some companies are even blocking worker access, fearing their bottom lines will suffer.
So we called a timeout to pose some questions.
Employees: What are you doing to watch the games? Are you rearranging your schedule or surreptitiously watching? Canceling out-of-office appointments?
Employers: Are you restricting Web access to the games? Discouraging it in another way? Or just going along with March Madness?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: marchmadness
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By samuelson jacobson lordzen
March 16, 2006 08:21 AM | Link to this
I hide in my cubical and turn the computer screen away from the walkway, I keep another screen open so if someone does try to see what im doing I pop open my screen for work and look like im working till the person leaves, I dont just do this with basketball, I watch TV all the time at work.
By Dave Jensen
March 16, 2006 09:01 AM | Link to this
I’ll probably be listening to live coverage of teams on my satellite radio (sirius) while at the office. Probably won’t bother with internet coverage since “the man” can monitor that activity.
At my previous job in Roswell I brought my little 13 inch TV into the office and set it up on top of the cubes so me and my friend in the cube next to me could watch games live. The boss wasn’t there those days, but I’m sure he would of watched with us so long as we did some work.
By Randi
March 16, 2006 09:13 AM | Link to this
Ha! Not only do we have our office pool going…our boss is taking us out @ 2 for beer and wings to watch the games! Sometimes it just pays to be the only female in an office full of men!
By michelle
March 16, 2006 09:32 AM | Link to this
In the past, I have had webcasts up but moreso to listen in the background while I do work. But if I hear a big play from my team, I’ll check out the screen. Thankfully my first round game is not during the workday this year, but if it was, I can guarantee that I would not have scheduled an appointment during the game if at all possible.
By t-
March 16, 2006 10:01 AM | Link to this
And yet another perk to working from home…I’ll have the 50” HD showing every minute and I have a clear line of sight from my office.
By J.D.
March 16, 2006 10:03 AM | Link to this
I take my laptop to work and watch the games on my laptop while I use my business PC for work. I love WIFI !!!
By S. P.Carl
March 16, 2006 10:04 AM | Link to this
I follow the tournament every year but I have never dialed it up at the office. If I cannot be on vacation time when it is on the first Thursday and Friday, I wait until I get home and then gorge on the results together with whatever games are still left for the day and that night. I honestly believe that this is all just more hysteria. Seems like we and the media do that all the time now with everything. I would not have responded to this if it hadn’t popped up!
By Brian Curtis
March 16, 2006 10:53 AM | Link to this
I go online a lot, but I’m proud to say that I totally ignore all sports events in favor of things that actually matter… like AJC blogs.
By Barb
March 16, 2006 11:49 AM | Link to this
What a deal! I wish I was still working in an office where people were excited about the NCAA (UNC grad here). It is nice to work in an office full of men, and for more reasons than just the NCAA Tourney.
By Gwiz
March 16, 2006 02:15 PM | Link to this
I work in the engineering field with alot of guys and I’m only one of two females that work in my office and most of us are sports fanatics so since i’m good at multi-tasking I’ll be watching the tournament on my computer while at work. We even have an office pool for our brackets. Genell
By gdawginkalamazoo
March 16, 2006 02:52 PM | Link to this
Some of us went to UGA so we don’t have to worry about the Big Show YET. Or the Not Invited Tournament either. In the meantime and as always we do look forward to the LADY DAWGS making a run at a title.
By Stephanie
March 16, 2006 04:02 PM | Link to this
How cool is this? My boss actually brought her mini TV in for me to watch the games on. Granted I’m pretending to have it on “in the background”, but I have mastered the art of typing and watching TV at the same time without any errors!
By Jimmy
March 16, 2006 04:03 PM | Link to this
Luckily for me, my supervisor and I are good friends so he let me watch the games, “as long as I get my usual work done.” CBSsportsline.com has a nice feature on its ‘March Madness on Demand’-called a “boss button.” Just hit it, and a spread sheet pops up automatically so it looksl ike youre doing your everyday work. Pretty funny.