Anytime there is a major sporting even that takes place during the work day, lots of news comes out about how it hurts the productivity of the workforce.
March Madness is the supreme example of this every year in the United States. But recently there has been something much worse because of its world-wide effect: The World Cup in South Africa.
I’m not a big soccer fan but I’ve been following the World Cup matches pretty closely because of the USA’s involvement and also because I love worldwide sporting events. There is something captivating about watching a sporting event when you know the whole world is watching with you, not just your own country (similar to the Olympics).
Check out this infographic on the World Cup’s effect on productivity in the workplace (I’ve watched bits and pieces of matches on ESPN3.com at work but mostly from home), it is truly amazing. The craziest thing to me is how many more people watch the World Cup final compared to the Super Bowl or the Olympics. It isn’t even close.
Even Twitter has been struggling to keep up with the effect of the entire world watching individual matches at the same time.
Have you watched the World Cup during work?
