March Madness fatigue: Why some office workers hate ‘sportsball’

Your colleagues might be sick of hearing about brackets and office pools. Here’s how leaders can maintain an inclusive culture.

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March Madness is well underway, but for a lot of people, it’s just another day at the office. That is, until you walk into the break room or sign into Slack and realize the place is abuzz with bracket chatter and Final Four predictions. 

You sigh, resigned to yet another month of sportsball—a whole lot of chatter about a game that you don’t know about. And don’t really care to.

For many people, March Madness is a nearly month-long ritual that requires a lot of feigning interest or noise-canceling headphones. For every excited person replaying Yaxel Lendeborg’s latest opponent-crushing dunk is a disinterested coworker nearby, confused at best, or at worst, sensing cliques forming in the workplace that they’re not a part of.

Tolerance for in-office forced fun is at an all-time low, and some managers might bemoan the distraction March Madness causes: coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas recently put out data that suggests employers lose $12 billion a year as workers watch games and tend to brackets on the clock. Some workers report feeling left out by sports talk (“why did I choose video games as my hobby?,” wrote one Redditor), or that they have to fake interest to shoot the breeze about last night’s game. Others suggest it could be a “gateway” to more problematic exclusions at work along lines like gender.

While filling out a bracket at work may be an optional, fun, harmless activity, it’s worth noting any potential effects on team culture.

Enthusiasm for sports “naturally shows up at work,” workplace culture expert Ray White tells Fast Company, “but not every employee connects with sports in the same way. The healthiest workplaces make room for those conversations without assuming everyone shares the same level of interest or knowledge.”

March Madness could be similar to office Oscars pools: some colleagues probably had impassioned opinions or predictions regarding Amy Madigan’s surprise win or One Battle After Another’s sweep; others couldn’t care less about Hollywood types in their fancy suits and gowns.

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