By Lori Kozlowski
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They say when your work becomes playtime, you’ve found your dream job. However, playing to avoid work is a completely different story. Such is the case with gambling in the workplace.
Fantasy baseball, fantasy football, March Madness, the Super bowl: all reasons to get in on the action at work. Drop a few bucks on a friendly tourney and see if you can win a little extra cash by payday. Turn your cubicle into a little Las Vegas. What could pass the day faster? Your supervisor is also your bookie. How convenient.
Seems simple enough. But some companies frown on the ways in which employees are getting so involved in waging bets.
With an increasing popularity in tournament pools and fantasy sports, a rise in on-the-job gambling is to be expected. A little fun at work never hurt anyone, but a decrease in productivity puts managers in a tough position. Too much time playing and the deck could be stacked against you.
Elizabeth George, Chief Executive Officer of the North American Training Institute (NATI), a Duluth, Minn.-based non-profit that works to address gambling addiction, prevention and education, says that workplace gambling is a phenomenon that plugs into several social needs.
“It’s fun, popular, an opportunity to win money, esteem with peers, getting something for nothing. Gambling has been popular since the beginning of civilization,” George says.
An age-old past time, gambling has roots in Ancient China, where Keno was invented and the proceeds are said to have contributed to the building of the Great Wall of China. George also mentions that lottery tickets were popular in many U.S. states in the 1850s and that some earnings from the Massachusetts lottery were responsible for the creation of Harvard Medical School.
According to a study done by Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), football pools are the most common form of workplace gambling.
In the same study, over 56 percent of respondents said there has been no effect on worker productivity as a result of gambling. And only about one-third of respondents said that their companies have a written policy addressing gambling in the workplace.
In some organizations even bosses join in the pools, citing company morale as a reason for excusing the action.
But few can deny that playing in fantasy leagues and waging bets online are distractions to assigned tasks.
Football, baseball and basketball tourneys aren’t the only attractions. Gambling is easy to access on the Internet. Popular gambling Web sites, including www.partypoker.com, www.pacificpoker.com, and www.pokerstars.net, have built special tools aimed specifically for the at-work gambler.
“Panic” buttons are a popular feature, a fail-safe in case an approaching boss. The panic button can be pushed and instantly a spreadsheet appears on the computer screen, covering up the game that was being played and creating a believable work environment.
A recent study conducted by Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, American companies likely took a total loss of $889.6 million this year over the 16 days of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The study says that every 13 minutes of unproductive work time costs employers $3.89 per worker (based on the current average hourly wage for all workers nationwide).
With all the betting and workers shunning their work, employers have good reason to be worried.
In some cases, the gambling becomes an activity workers rely on, an action they need. According to George, human resources managers need to be aware that gambling can become an addiction, just as drugs or alcohol can become problematic.
Before the games get out of control, George suggests featuring information about the signs and symptoms of a gambling problem and how to access help, providing training on gambling interventions to HR staff and adding gambling addiction information to the materials that are used by the employer to educate about signs of alcoholism and drug problems in the workplace.
For most, however, the Internet has simply provided a way to amuse oneself at work. You look forward to getting there because before lunch, you’ll be picking odds on horses, when Sandy in accounting will give birth, who in the office will get a promotion first and according to CNN.com, even who will be fired first.
Work sounds like a regular party. All that’s missing is the cocktail waitresses.© Content That Works