(Published September 8, 2009)
Are you ready for some football? I sure am! As much as I enjoy watching football for the pure pleasure of the sport (go Giants!), I admit that when I've got five bucks riding on that week's winners, I enjoy the games that much more.
The fact that workplace gambling is technically illegal in almost every state (as are wagers between friends) hasn't stopped almost every executive I've worked for from intentionally looking the other way when staff members organize sports pools.
While office pools are typically heralded for the camaraderie they foster among employees, they aren't without their potential pitfalls.
Pitfall #1: Costly stakes. Call me a cheapskate, but I'm not interested in any regular season NFL pool that costs more than $5/week. I might spring for $10 for playoff or Super Bowl action, but that's it! My jaw hit the floor when a friend of a friend told me it cost $1,000 to buy a single box in his company's Super Bowl pool. Seriously?!?
These high rollers better watch out. The IRS has an interest in gambling winnings, which count as income that's supposed to be reported. Chances are slim that the IRS will waste its time and energy pursing low-stakes office pools. The same, however, cannot be said about high-stakes workplace gambling that could potentially result in employees losing entire paychecks.
Pitfall #2: Overzealous organizers. The more participants, the bigger the pot. It's no wonder why pool organizers want everyone to participate. There's a huge difference, however, between being asked to participate once and being pressured to ante up every day.
I wouldn't say I was necessarily pressured, but one executive did repeatedly ask me whether I wanted to join in the baseball pool. I politely declined each time, explaining that I wasn't a baseball fan. It finally sunk in!
Pitfall #3: Decreased productivity. When making picks, I'm led by my heart. I select either the teams I like or the teams playing against the teams I dislike. Takes me all of two minutes to make my football picks for the week. My husband, on the other hand, takes HOURS to make his weekly picks. He researches each team's stats from the previous week, reads the experts' predictions for the upcoming week, weighs the spreads, etc. While my husband conducts his analysis at home, the same cannot be said for all employees.
Pitfall #4: Sore losers — and winners. Competition can bring out the worst in people. Upon learning they lost, some employees shout expletives, threaten the bearer of the bad news, or throw whatever is in their hand across the room. Learning they've won causes other employees to taunt and mock the "losers."
Even if your organization's pool has managed to sidestep each of these pitfalls, you're not out of the woods yet. Unbeknownst to you, an employee could be battling a gambling addiction. It would be my guess that asking an employee with a gambling problem to participate in an office pool is akin to asking an employee with a drinking problem if they want a drink. Why put someone is that position?
As much fun as I've had participating in office pools, I would hate to think that that fun came at the expense of someone with a gambling problem.
So my challenge to you is to come up with a fun way to let employees enjoy football season and build camaraderie that doesn't involve monetary wages. My suggestion: Relax the dress code and let employees show their team spirit by wearing a jersey.
Melissa V. Pomerantz
Editor
Home
