C'mon, let's make March Madness a national holiday

A 2013 national survey of 500 IT professionals found that “one-third of office IT departments are preparing to block, ban or slow down streamed March Madness content through the throttling of video feeds,” wrote Darren Heitner at Forbes. “Twenty-nine percent (29%) of those surveyed believe that content policies will only get stricter over the next two years. Only four percent believe that said policies will become more relaxed with time.”

Even with the proliferation of office-sanctioned NCAA pools, the guilt associated with eschewing work focus for game focus seems both real and could work on behalf of employers.

“Feeling guilt is not necessarily such a bad thing,” says Dr. June Tangney of George Mason University. “An employer may be getting more bang for their buck as an employee works to make amends.” Tangney describes a dynamic in which an employee “might be inclined to stay later” if he or she is able to watch a little bit of the games or check their brackets.