Area Office Workers Say They're Leaving NCAA Action at Home (Yeah, Right.)

by KYW's Ian Bush

The outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas estimates productivity losses in American workplaces over the next few weeks of about $1.2 billion -- and it's all due to the NCAA college basketball tournament. But many local employees are telling their bosses, "Don't sweat it."

Congratulations, Philadelphia.  If these employees are any indication, it seems you're the most productive workforce in the land -- for leaving hoops at home:

(Man:) "I'll do most of my bracketing at home. Probably briefly look at some of the web sites."

(Woman:) "No, not today. Not at work."

(Man:) "No, not here.  I'll do it on my own, online."

Of course, it helps to have an incentive to stay on task:

(Man:) "He's my boss (laughs)."

(Boss:) "I'm the department head, so whatever he says may be used against him."

Or, if you have this guy for a boss: Adam Schran, who created BeAware -- monitoring software for businesses.  He says simply the threat of a company checking up on your sports site surfing is enough to stem the tide of wasted work time:

"You can block the NCAA site and they can go to some other sports site, like ESPN. You can't ever be complete when it comes to blocking.   Really, I think what demonstrates more trust for the employee is to let them go to the sites they're going to, and let them know that you can monitor them."