Study: Fantasy Football May Cost $13B In Lost Productivity
(CBS) If you are one of the estimated 3o million or so people who play fantasy football, you've probably checked your lineup and/or made some transactions while at work.
Which means you're part of the reason an estimated $13 billion could be lost in workplace productivity because of fantasy football, according to a study by the Chicago-based outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas and as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
From the Tribune:
The firm came to its figure using average hourly earnings of workers on private non-farm payrolls ($24.45) and the estimated number of employed fantasy sports participants (18.3 million, assuming a 59 percent employment rate among the 31 million working-age Americans who participate in fantasy sports). Assuming, conservatively, that each employed participant spends two hours a week on fantasy sports while on the job, it works out to $13.4 billion over the course of the 15-week fantasy football schedule.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas emphasized this was an estimate and its CEO, John A. Challenger, added the firm was "not trying to demonize fantasy football." It was just trying to paint a picture that fantasy football was one of many online distractions in the workplace.
The kicker? Challenger suggested workplaces don't crack down on employees setting their lineup during work hours. Rather, he encouraged companies to start work leagues to build camaraderie.
So folks, fire away at picking up the Broncos' fourth-string receiver. Because work can wait.