Employees Doing Hoops at Work One Hour per Week

A news release from IT staffing specialist Atlantic Associates said 7% of respondents plan to devote one to two hours weekly keeping up with their favorite teams, while 6% said they will do likewise for three hours or more.

All in all, out of the approximately 300 employees at more than 40 Massachusetts firms, 33% of will have hoops on their minds as the tournament unfolds. Some 22% said their firm had organized an employee betting pool.

“Employers are always challenged to get the most productivity they can from their employees,” said Atlantic principal and co-founder Jack Harrington, in the release. “Still, it’s important that employees work in environments they enjoy. Distractions such as March Madness can take away from productivity, but, if employers provide some latitude on certain occasions such as this, they’ll generally maintain better relationships with their employees.”

On another topic, the survey found employee job satisfaction is high as 49% of those surveyed said they are currently more satisfied in their job than they were a year ago. An additional 30% said there is no change, while only 21% are less satisfied now than 12 months earlier.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they are hoping for a higher salary in 2008, and the biggest challenge listed that employees are currently facing in their job is that their salary is too low.