Increased Sense of Community During March Madness Overrides Lost Productivity in Sports Organization

A study by University of Kansas students reveals March Madness fosters a greater sense of community in the workplace.

Graphic by Philip Mueller, KU

A group of University of Kansas researchers found that, although it leads to a loss in productivity, watching the March Madness tournament in the workplace can help foster a greater sense of community amongst employees in intercollegiate athletics departments.

Bass and Zachary Wilkerson, both with the University, and former University student Brent Oja and Rammi Hazzaa, both with the University of Northern Colorado (UNCO) observed NCAA athletic departments and conducted a number of semi-structured interviews with employees.

Despite the estimated $134 million in lost wages and about $1.9 billion in lost productivity during March Madness, the study revealed that employees were very open about watching the games during work and even had the support of their supervisors –– some believed it was essential to their job performance to know what was happening in the tournament.

“[The supervisors] didn't care that they had [the games] up and most of them talked about how they had a TV somewhere in the office where they always had [the games] on… it was just a common thing,” Wilkerson said.

Many employees said that as long as they were getting their work done, supervisors didn’t mind employees watching and discussing the tournament. Some employees even reported that their supervisors would oftentimes ask scores and join in on watching the games.

According to Wilkerson, it was so normalized that some people said it would be “odd” if employees didn’t watch the games during March Madness, and those who didn’t would most likely be viewed as “outcasts."

Despite this, the study revealed how March Madness helped create a positive organizational culture and foster a greater sense of community in the workplace.

“It was kind of a bonding experience,” Wilkerson said. “People were connecting –– they were talking about things that weren't just about their every day work. It was relationship building.”

After work, many employees would continue bonding outside of work by watching the games together at restaurants or bars.

“They weren’t just watching the games and hanging out in the work environment –– it went beyond that,” Wilkerson said. “It’s a deeper connection…these people actually became friends outside of the workplace.”

The study indicated how improving the sense of community in the workplace can be beneficial to businesses by increasing morale, teamwork, and leadership.

“Being able to effectively communicate with people and actually like the people that you work with really helps to increase productivity,” Wilkerson said. “It also helps people to want to show up to work and actually care about their job –– all these different things create a positive atmosphere that leads people to work more and work better.”

The study also revealed how creating a positive workplace culture through an increased sense of community can help prevent “negative employee outcomes” such as employee turnover, or quitting, feeling undervalued, and being generally unhappy at work.

Bass mentioned just how detrimental quick employee turnover can be to a company:

“Numerous studies have shown how expensive and negative constant turnover is in the workplace,” Bass said. “One way to make employees feel valuable and stay in their positions longer is to improve their culture and to increase their feeling of community.”

So, the bonds created amongst employees by watching the annual tournament together may override the lost productivity during March Madness –– it could even be financially beneficial to the companies in the long run by lessoning constant employee turnover.