If you don’t know that this week is the start of March Madness, then you are either really unplugged (yea for you) or you live on another planet.  For a bonafide basketball junkie like me, March Madness is absolute heaven.  Great games, Cinderella stories, huge upsets, busted brackets…what is not to love?

I’m betting not a lot of bosses love March Madness because productivity in the office plummets on Thursday and Friday.  According to this article…it’s close to 1.9 billion in lost wages for the 60 million Americans who will watch the games from their offices.

Look, I get it, that’s a lot of wages lost but you can’t stop Americans from doing what they are going to do…watch basketball and try to beat their co-workers in the office bracket pool.  It’s not called March Madness for nothing.

So what is a boss to do? In my opinion…roll with it.  Know that Thursday and Friday your team might be a little distracted and plan ahead by getting the most out of them M-W.  Use the tournament as a morale builder and offer to show games at lunchtime in the boardroom.  Make sure to be there yourself, (Boss Lady/Man), so the team sees that you are caught up in the madness as well.  If there’s an office bracket pool, play along even if you don’t know basketball.  (You’d be surprised how many of my friends choose teams based on the color of their jerseys and win)

The tournament really only lasts 3 weeks…and by the second and third week there are less games during work hours.  So really, it’s only this Thursday and Friday that your team will be absolutely worthless…2 days. Surely, any great team can weather a little distraction for two days.

Speaking of brackets, I filled out two:  I’ve got Duke winning in one and Arizona in the other…because nobody is PERFECT.