A lot of people are talking about “my brackets.” I must admit, I wasn’t sure what they were talking about until I realized that we are in March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Of course, FCW also has brackets going for March (Government Movie) Madness.

It is one thing to talk about and promote your favorite college team. It’s another to participate in sports pools to predict who will win. Either way, you are taking away time from work to engage in the madness as you track those brackets.

A few federal offices may look aside when sports pools start, but as a rule, agencies don’t permit them. On the other hand, some companies allow sports pools as a way to build morale and a productive workforce.

A survey in Massachusetts, by information technology staffing specialist Atlantic Associates, found that some private companies not only encourage pools during March Madness but even allow employees to spend some limited office time engaged in watching TV, going online, talking or reading about the teams. 

The survey, covering 300 employees at more than 40 companies, found that 33 percent of the respondents will spend some work hours to follow this year's March Madness.

Twenty percent said that they will spend less than an hour a week on the tournament, while seven percent will spend one to two hours per week and another six percent will spend three or more hours a week.

And 22 percent of the companies where the respondents work will organize an employee pool for March Madness.

How are your brackets? Does your office have a sports pool? Do you think allowing a March Madness pool would help morale or hurt productivity? Post a comment on this blog (registration required) or send an e-mail to letters@fcw.com (subject: brackets) and we will post it for you.