By Patricia
Montemurri | Yeah, sure, they’re illegal and make a dent in March productivity, but NCAA office pools are a reality of the workplace — and not bad for morale, according to a survey of human resources professionals.

Many of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament brackets games — 32 of
them to be held Thursday, March 18, and Friday, March 19 — will be
broadcast during office hours, a tempting, money-on-the-line distraction
for those who want to check scores or Web broadcasts.

In 2009, some 45 percent of Americans said they planned to enter a NCAA
pool, according to the MSN Hoops Hysteria survey. A 2009 CareerBuilder
survey of 8,000 workers found that nearly 1 in 5 have entered a March
Madness office pool. Among men, nearly 1 in 4 played the brackets,
compared to 11 percent of women.

Even President Barack Obama filled out a tournament bracket last year, as part of an ESPN basketball sweepstakes promotion.

In Illinois, betting money in an office pool is illegal. Technically, if you put your money down in a pool, you could be convicted of a class A misdemeanor, or a felony if convicted a second time. Employers could be in just as much trouble. But prosecuting office pool players isn’t a priority.

Most companies don’t have a formal policy about office gambling, according to a January 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The human resources professionals surveyed said employees were most likely to organize pools for the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tourney, but also used pools to bet on when a coworker was likely to give birth and the newborn’s weight and height.

The pools helped boost morale, the survey found. Some 55 percent said office pools had a positive impact, while 41 percent said it had no impact.

Claire Simmers, co-author of “Personal Web Usage in the Workplace,” says employers shouldn’t try to obstruct computer access to Web sites about the games.

“I would say that employers should expect it,” said Simmers, a St. Joseph University business management professor in Philadelphia. So many now take their job home and stay connected to business concerns that there’s a big blurring of the line between work and life.

It makes her cringe when she sees office workers close computer screens suddenly when bosses approach.

“People are going to sneak and do it anyway. Why do you want to have that kind of culture?”

“If you’re in a job where the work gets done, and if you’re checking the scores or looking at it occasionally,” said Simmers, “better to allow that and have a happier workforce.”