Fantasy Football killing productivity? Pure fantasy

Study finds less than 8% of HR departments consider fantasy football a significant distraction

Good news, fantasy sports geeks: You probably won't get fired for shaking up your running back rotation during office hours.

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According to a new survey of around 100 human resources professionals conducted by outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a majority of human resources departments don't think it's a big deal when workers manage their fantasy football teams online while at work. Around 54% of HR departments said they don't care if workers engage in fantasy football activities while at work, and roughly 8% say they actually encourage office participation in fantasy football as part of a morale-boosting exercise.

When asked to rate the level of distraction fantasy football provides to their workplace on a scale of one to 10, nearly 70% of HR departments rated it as "low" (between one and four on the 10-point scale) while only 23% rated it as an above-average distraction. Interestingly, a full 65% of HR professionals surveyed said they themselves participated in a fantasy football league with either their friends or coworkers.

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Good news, fantasy sports geeks: You probably won't get fired for shaking up your running back rotation during office hours.

10 sports technologies to love

According to a new survey of around 100 human resources professionals conducted by outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a majority of human resources departments don't think it's a big deal when workers manage their fantasy football teams online while at work. Around 54% of HR departments said they don't care if workers engage in fantasy football activities while at work, and roughly 8% say they actually encourage office participation in fantasy football as part of a morale-boosting exercise.

When asked to rate the level of distraction fantasy football provides to their workplace on a scale of one to 10, nearly 70% of HR departments rated it as "low" (between one and four on the 10-point scale) while only 23% rated it as an above-average distraction. Interestingly, a full 65% of HR professionals surveyed said they themselves participated in a fantasy football league with either their friends or coworkers.

John Challenger, the CEO of Challenger, speculates that most companies don't care that their employees play fantasy football on company time because workers now have the ability to work even when not in the office. In other words, it's a productivity tradeoff: As long as workers are getting their work done either at home or in the office, they can play fantasy football to their hearts' content.

"It is difficult for companies to take a hard-line stance against fantasy football," he says. "The Internet technology that helped fuel the rapid growth of fantasy football participation and makes it possible to manage teams from one's desk also makes it possible for employees to attend to work duties during their personal time."

This is not the first fantasy football survey that Challenger, Gray & Christmas has conducted. In a past workplace survey, the firm found that around half of people said they thought for at least an hour about their fantasy football team every day. There are roughly 30 million fantasy football players in the United States and Canada, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

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