March Madness at work: Tools to build a team of champions

March Madness, a well-known yearlybasketball tournamentin the United States, is currently taking place. All around the country, millions of people are tuning in to watch theNCAA Tournament. Not only that, butthe average employee will spend six hours watching March Madness at work. Many are also taking part in March Madness work-themed activities at some point during the month-long event.

But what impact is this having on companies? How should you manage March Madness at work? And what benefits can the tournament offer your organization?

In today’s post, we are going to discuss theparallels between basketball and business, includingteambuilding, leadership, and talent management. We will also share some of the issues that HR and managers might face during the tournament, especially those related toabsenteeism, scheduling, and potential loss of productivity. Finally, we will explain howFactorial’s toolscan help you tackle these issues andbuild a team of champions.

What does March Madness have to do with business? 

TheNCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, commonly referred to asMarch Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States. During the tournament, 68 college basketball teams from around the country compete in seven rounds for the national championship. The tournament generates a great deal of excitement and an estimated70 million Americans completebrackets in an attempt to predict the winning team. 

So, what does all this sporting madness have to do with business?

For one thing, whether you like it or not, your employees are likely to spend at least a portion of their daysmonitoring the games and checking their brackets. You can either get frustrated by the constant fight to remove basketball-related distractions from the working environment, or you canembrace March Madness at work and use it to your advantage. 

In fact, there aremany parallels between basketball and business that can help you build a stronger and more cohesive team. Many of the strategies used by successful basketball teams can also help you withteambuilding and leadership initiativesin your organization. And many of the tactics used by spectators when they complete their brackets can also be applied to yourtalent acquisition strategies.

Let’s explore these parallels.

Teambuilding and March Madness 

Instead of discouraging March Madness at work, use it as anopportunity to improve employee morale and encourageteambuilding. Creating a fun and interactive activity to celebrate the event in your organization can helpbring your team together and develop deeper relationships between colleagues.

For example, you could create your ownbracket challengeand invite employees to predict who they think will win the tournament. Make sure you check gambling laws in your area first though as sports betting isn’t permitted in all states. You also need to be mindful of theInterstate Wire Act of 1961which regulates the transmission of bets and wagers across state lines. Alternatively, you can keep things simple and offernon-monetary rewards such as gift cards, an extra day of PTO, or new office equipment.

You could alsorelax your dress codeduring March Madness and allow your employees to wear theirteam jerseysto support their teams. Or you could even encourage your teams todecorate their departmentsin honor of their favorite teams and award prizes to the best-decorated office spaces.

Finally, another great idea for March Madness at work teambuilding is hosting avirtual happy hour to celebrate tournament wins. This can be a great way to get your remote workers involved and help them bond with their colleagues. 

Leadership and March Madness 

March Madness at work strategies can help youdevelop your workplace culturein a positive way, especially in terms ofleadership.

For example,leadership goes hand in hand with trust. The more employees trust their leaders, the more they buy into the decisions they make. Butleaders also need to trust their teams. Otherwise, whether in business or on the basketball court, this can lead toball hogging. In other words, not passing the ball to open teammates so that they can score. Or in the case of business leadership,not trusting your employees, micromanaging, and failing to maximize the skills and potential of every member of the department. 

Basketball teams can’t succeed with ball hoggers, and neither can businesses.

Use March Madness at work as an opportunity toreview the leadership styles used by your managers. Look out for anybottlenecks that might stifle autonomy and creativity in your teams. 

Talent management and March Madness

Finally, another effective application of March Madness at work relates to yourtalent acquisition strategy.

In many ways,completing a tournament bracket is a lot like your recruitment and selection process. You have to balance your options and research team records and histories. You then have to create a shortlist based on opinions, reviews, and recommendations. Plus, you have to considerpotentialwhen you make your final decision, as well asteamwork; past performance isn’t the only indicator of future success. 

Recruitment works in exactly the same way. 

Have you included all these considerations in your recruitment funnel? Does your talent acquisition process evaluate teamwork and take into account a candidate’s potential for development? Are you offering an optimal candidate experience?

Moreover, celebrating March Madness can give employees the chance torest and rechargewith fun activities. This in turn can boostemployee morale, satisfaction, engagement and productivity. And the happier and more motivated your workforce is, the lower your turnover rate will be. In other words,March Madness can help you enhance your employee experience so that you can boost your retention levels as well as your talent acquisition strategies.

Potential March Madness issues in the workplace 

Perhaps the biggest issues you might face during March Madness at work relate toabsenteeism, last-minute scheduling changes, and issues with productivity. 

For example, you might find thatemployees are easily distracted by the tournament and constantly check their brackets to see if they have won. In fact, some studies suggest thatMarch Madness could cost employers nearly $4 billion in lost revenue. Other sources, however, believe thatthe drop in office productivity around March Madness may be overstated. Either way, most employers find thatabsence rates increasesharply during March Madness, leading toscheduling and staffing issues.

However, the benefits you can gain by embracing March Madness at work far outweigh the risks. After all, building aculture of autonomy and trust is vital in the modern workplace, soimplementing a zero-tolerance approach to March Madness is only going to damage your business in the long term. It all comes down to balance.

The key isbeing clear about your expectations and defining clear guidelines for requesting and tracking time off. Employees should feel they have a right to celebrate March Madness. But they also need to respect your expectations in terms of performance and productivity. Provided youimplement the right controlsanduse the right toolsto manageabsenteeism, last-minute scheduling changes, and productivitythen there is no reason why your team cannot celebrate the tournament whilst maintaining performance levels at all times.

Tools to champion your team 

As we just highlighted,the best way to address the issues associated with celebrating March Madness at work is by using the right tools and technology.

Factorial’s HRISincludes a number of features that can help you with this, especially in terms oftime tracking, scheduling, and talent acquisition. That way, you can encourage your workforce to celebrate the event whilst using the strategies discussed today tobuild a team of champions.

Let’s take a look at these features in a bit more detail. 

Provide time off 

Factorial’stime off management software can help you manage and track absences during March Madness. 

For example, you cancreate your time-off policy directly on the platformso that your staff has access to it at all times. That way, your employees know exactly what they need to do when they want to request vacation leave. You can also includespecific guidelines relating to time off during March Madness. Employees can thenrequest time off through the employee portal, and these requests get sent directly to the right managers for approval. 

You can alsocreate blocked periodsso that employees cannot request days off during busy times, reducing the time you need to spend rejecting requests that you cannot accommodate. Plus, bycentralizing your time-off process through Factorial’s platform, you cankeep updated on team availability at all times.

Here are a few other benefits of using Factorial’s time-off management software during March Madness: 

• Automate vacation requests.
• See vacation days accrued, used, and remaining.
• Use the calendar to review upcoming employee absences with ease.
• View all upcoming sick leave, vacation days, and other types of leave at a glance.
• Track vacations to make sure each team is adequately staffed.
• Set permissions to determine which supervisors will need to approve absence requests.
• Generate custom reports.

All this makes it much easier tohandle your March Madness at work time off requests efficiently.

Provide flexible scheduling 

Factorial’sshift management softwarecan help youbetter manage your employee schedules during March Madness at work. That way, you can be sure that your teams aren’t leftunderstaffed due to uncoordinated absences.

For example, you can use ourfree downloadable employee shift schedule templateto organize your staff’s daily shifts. Employees can then use it as a reference and comment on any upcoming schedule conflicts. Plus, you can customize the template for defined periods, so you cancreate a specific schedule to cover the tournament period.

There are a lot of other benefits of using our shift management software:

• Assign shifts to employees based on current and upcoming availability.
• Gain better planning visibility with a complete overview of who is working and when.
• Automatically detect scheduling gaps and conflicts so that you can address them.
• Update your team as and when schedules and availability change. 
• Receive notifications of newly published or modified staff shifts.
• Customize the way you view your employee shift schedules to optimize planning. 
• View hourly absences on the shift schedule to gain insight into employee availability.
• Integrate the solution with your time off software.
• Run reports to help you spot trends and better understand your scheduling needs.

Scout out the right talent 

Finally, Factorial’stalent acquisition software andapplicant tracking systemcan help youoptimize your recruitment funnel and candidate experience. This helps you enhance your end-to-end hiring process and create alarger qualitytalent pool. 

For example, with Factorial’s ATS you cancreate personalized job offers, application forms, and pipeline workflows. You can also design your owncustomized hiring pageto showcase your company, team, and available positions. This will help you attract more candidates and improve your overall recruiting process. 

Best of all, you can use all the data you collect toeffortlessly integrate new employees into your onboarding software once you’ve hired them. That way, yourentire candidate lifecycle is centralized, and you can focus on attracting and retaining top talent. In other words, you can redirect your efforts tobuilding your own team of champions. 

Happy March Madness at work month, everyone!