Every year, an estimated $4B in productivity is lost nationwide due to March Madness. Millions of Americans, instead of doing real work, use their working hours to fill out brackets, chat about upsets and Cinderellas with their coworkers, and watch their favorite college basketball teams during the workday.
This is not some sort of national catastrophe or scourge--measuring “lost productivity” is a tricky exercise as is, and the communal fun of an office March Madness pool is probably good for the workplace, at least from a morale and connectivity standpoint. But any time spent doing something other than work is something that employers (probably yours!