Viewing parties, good-natured 
competition among colleagues, and basketball mania galore highlight life at AdvantEdge Workspaces during March Madness. Like most of the nation, we have dove head first into the "Madness" of March Madness! Surprisingly, only 11% of employers support March Madness in the office, stating that it inhibits productivity. As we celebrate our sixth year of inter-office bracket challenges and social office events, our shared workspace begs to differ!
Ben Wright, a marketing professor at Ball State University, says it’s "silly for companies to fight March Madness." He believes companies should integrate college basketball into the workplace, not only because curbing office pools might not be feasible, but because any perceived productivity losses are likely inflated, and they’re also offset by boosts in morale.
“Over 70 million brackets will be filled out this year,” said Wright. “Clearly, there is a desire to watch these games, and if employers can embrace the opportunity, it may create a more content and cohesive workforce.”
We agree with Wright's perspective, and not only have we embraced it, we can say from firsthand experience that our community is quite content! 
For the past six years, we have sponsored office events celebrating March Madness, and have found an extremely high response rate in terms of client attendance. In fact, it is one of the most popular series of events we regularly hold, and we even add our own twist to the competition by providing an arcade-style basketball shooting championship each year.
We found that this hour of fun, celebration, and friendly competition provides a break in the workday that sends people back to their desks more energized than when they left, and in addition, promotes camaraderie among staff and clientele. Given the positive response year after year, we plan on "Celebrating the Madness" and other office networking events for many years to come!
