Football Season and the Workplace: Productivity Drain or Engagement Opportunity?
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With football season getting started, the sport is likely to make its presence known in the American workplace. Employees who are football fans will likely spend quite a bit of time while they’re at work chatting about recent and upcoming games, updating Fantasy Football rosters, ribbing co-workers who follow rival teams and more. Can this impact productivity in a negative way? Sure it can. However, employers can also leverage the excitement surrounding football season to boost employee engagement.

Football Season Excitement

It’s a simple fact that many people love football. According to a 2014 Harris Poll, professional football is the most popular sport in America (and has been for 30 years). College football isn’t far behind, coming in at third place just after professional baseball.

Football is an integral part of the American culture, and it’s an activity that many people – men and women alike – are very passionate about. There are a lot of football fans – and they tend to be very enthusiastic and vocal about their teams and the sport in general. This means they’re likely to spend quite a bit of time focusing on and talking about football all season long, both in and out of the workplace.

Potential Productivity Impact

According to a 2012 estimate by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, (based on Fantasy Football participation data and U.S. Department of Labor earning statistics), U.S. employers (as a whole) may lose over $430 million per week in wages paid to employees who are managing their fantasy football teams when they are at work.

That’s a lot of money – and the number likely doesn’t come close to representing the full potential bottom line impact. Fantasy Football is only one of the ways football fans engage in the sport, this potential impact of time redirected from work activity to the sport is actually much higher. This is a real concern and can definitely be a challenge, but it also poses a great opportunity.

Consider the Reality

It’s not practical to expect that employees won’t bring some aspects of their personal lives into the workplace – and this includes their love of sports as well as other interests and hobbies. Trying to prohibit football enthusiasm from spilling over into the workplace just isn’t realistic – and doing so could have a negative impact on employee morale. The reality is that football talk is going to make it into your workplace no matter what.

Let Football Work to Your Advantage

As manager, business owner or HR professional, it only makes sense to find a way to use it to your advantage! With so many employees tuned in, enthusiasm surrounding football season can provide employers with a unique opportunity to leverage common ground and friendly rivalry to improve employee engagement and bring a bit of fun into the work environment.

The choice is yours. You can stress out about the potential negative impact all the football talk has on productivity, or you can welcome the season and look at the buzz as an opportunity to increase employee engagement with football themed workplace activities that your employees will enjoy!