Are you ready for some football?
You’re in good company. And if you play NFL Fantasy Football – as do 24.3 million people according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association – you probably check in on your team from time to time in between updating spreadsheets, leading management meetings and inventing the latest-greatest gizmo.
What’s the big deal? Employed fantasy football players cost employers $6.5 billion in lost worker productivity over the 15-week fantasy season. This according to a study
by Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
To arrive at this figure, the firm offers what it calls a “conservative estimate” that players spend at least an hour a week (at an average salary of $19.63) managing or tweaking their rosters.
All of this raises the bigger question of time theft at work and the ethics of taking a few minutes here and there to not only tweak a fantasy game lineup, but check personal email, text the kids, view the latest water-cooler video on YouTube or surf the Net.
But before I sign off, I better go figure out if I’m playing Phillip Rivers or Ben Roethlisberger this week.
What are your thoughts on taking time at work for non-work activities?
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