March Madness will cost employers $17B this year as workers slack off

The cost of lost worker productivity for employers due to March Madness will reach an eye-popping amount this year, Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated.

In the report released Tuesday, the global outplacement firm estimated that employers will see $17.3 billion in costs from lost productivity from workers distracted by college hoops. The figure accounts for employees doing things like brackets and watching games on the clock amid the more than two weeks’ worth of workdays in which the NCAA tournament coincides, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. READ MORE