NCAA pools: No biggie for employers - SmartBrief

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NCAA pools: No biggie for employers

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Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Workforce — tracks feedback from leading managers and HR practitioners. We run the poll question each Thursday in our e-newsletter.

Last week, we asked: Do you allow gambling pools (such as the ones for March Madness) in your workplace?

  • Yes, but we don’t encourage or discourage them, 52%
  • No, but we look the other way if employees are doing it, 26%
  • No, and we are strict about it, 12%
  • Yes — we encourage them, 10%

It’s encouraging to see that employers aren’t going overboard with regulating informal gambling pools at work. For me, it was a nice change of pace for a couple of weeks and the amounts we dealt with were very low ($20 or less). While I don’t necessarily buy the camaraderie benefit, I do think that employers should take a hands-off approach to all but the most extreme circumstances.

Lance Haun is community director for ERE.net, the main guy over at Rehaul.com and a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board.