As Always, the Tourney Is Going to Cost Companies Some Fictional Amount of Money

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↵Well, here it is; your mandatory “look at the zillions of dollars the NCAA Tournament is costing employers!” article. This same exact story comes out every March and is always so MIND BLOWING because it involves such BIG NUMBERS. And it’s always relevant because, as we all know, the Tournament is the only time of year that good little desk jockeys don’t work nine hours a day, non-stop. MSNBC breaks down the wholly unrealistic numbers and shaky logic:↵↵⇥A recent study by business consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas conservatively estimated the tournament costs nearly $4 billion to U.S. businesses because of workplace interruptions.↵⇥↵⇥Start with a pay scale of $18 per hour. There are 58 million basketball fans watching the NCAA tournament. Those fans are driving hard to the Internet and TV to the tune of 1.5 minutes per day over 16 business days. That comes to $3.8 billion lost productivity.↵⇥

↵↵I’m sorry, did that say 1.5 minutes per work day during the Tournament? Sure that’s not supposed to be hours? Because if under two minutes a day is costing companies a total of $3.8 billion, then the actual cost is somewhere around $814 trillion. ↵↵Of course, this whole thing is stupid because it assumes that workers aren’t otherwise distracted by the internet (or that girl down the hall, or the wind blowing outside, or that shiny thing on the ground) every single day of the year, regardless of what sports are or aren’t happening. I’m not saying employees don’t waste more time than usual during the Tournament, but the distraction does help improve morale, something all bosses should strive for these days. Unless your boss is Charles Minor, in which case your internet access is probably blocked anyway.↵

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