2013 office pool

SHRM Survey Findings: The Use of Office Pools

April 25, 2013

Definition

In this survey, the term “office pools” refers to gambling in the workplace, including games,

competitions or other events. Office pools can be linked to football games, the Super Bowl,

the Oscars, the NCAA basketball championship tournament, etc.

The Use of Office Pools ©SHRM 2013 2

Key Findings

Do organizations have a policy that addresses office pools? A majority of organizations (81%) indicated they do not have a written or unwritten policy that addresses office pools, an increase from 67% in 2010. In 2013 and 2010, 10% of organizations reported having a written policy

addressing office pools. Only 8% of organizations reported having an unwritten policy in 2013, a decrease from 23% in 2010.

What is included in policies addressing office pools? Most policies that address office pools include “prohibition of gambling that includes monetary exchange in the workplace” (70%), “disciplinary action (not including termination) for failure to comply with policy” (69%), and “prohibition of any form of gambling, including office pools,” (66%).

How often do organizations enforce these policies? Of those organizations that currently have a written or unwritten policy in place, less than one-tenth (7%) have disciplined employees for noncompliance.

Do organization prohibit employees from taking part in fantasy sports teams (e.g., fantasy football or fantasy baseball) in the workplace? Currently, only 15% of organizations prohibit

employees from participating in fantasy sports teams in the workplace.

Do office pools have a positive impact in the workplace? The top three areas that HR professionals perceived as positively affected by office pools were relationship building (70%), promoting team building (64%), and increasing employee engagement (54%).


Key Findings (continued)

For which events do employees conduct office pools? In 2013, the top two events that employees conducted office pools for were the Super Bowl (65%) and the NCAA college

basketball tournament (57%). Office pools for both of these events have increased since 2010, when 39% of organizations reported office pools for the Super Bowl and 36% for the NCAA college basketball tournament.

Is there an increase in the number of employees who do not come to work the day after a major televised event? Results indicate that more male employees (16%) are absent from work the day after the Super Bowl compared with female employees (7%). The same pattern is

observed the day after the NCAA college basketball and football tournaments, with 6% of male employees compared with 2% of female employees not coming to work.


Does your organization have a written or unwritten (understood) policy

addressing office pools?

23%

10%

67%

8%

10%

81%

2013 2010

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.

Yes, we have an unwritten (understood) policy addressing office pools

Yes, we have a written policy addressing office pools

No, we do not have a written or unwritten policy

addressing office pools

(n = 335) (n = 271)


Does your organization have a written or unwritten (understood) policy

addressing office pools?

Comparison by organization staff size

• Organizations with 2,500 or more employees are more likely than organizations with 1 to 500 employees to have a written policy addressing office pools.

Comparison by organization staff size

2,500 to 24,999 employees (24%)25,000 or more employees (44%)

>1 to 99 employees (5%)100 to 499 employees (6%)

Comparison by organization sector

• Publicly owned for-profit organizations are more likely than privately owned for-profit organizations to have a written policy addressing office pools.

Comparison by organization sector

Publicly owned for-profit organizations (21%) > Privately owned for-profit (6%)


Note: Only statistically significant differences are shown.

Is your organization’s written or unwritten (understood) policy

addressing office pools part of a gambling policy, or is it a stand-

alone policy?

Note: n = 58. Only respondents whose organizations have a written or unwritten policy addressing office pools were asked this question.

41%

59%

It is a stand-alone policy

It is part of a gambling policy


2013(n = 50)

2010(n = 78)

Prohibition of gambling that includes monetary exchange 70% 70%

Disciplinary action (not including termination) for failure to comply with policy 69% 72%

Prohibition of any form of gambling, including office pools 66% 83%

Employment termination for failure to comply with policy 63% 67%

A definition of what gambling in the workplace means 43% 63%

Prohibition of any form of gambling, excluding office pools 39% 7%

Does your organization’s policy include the following aspects?

Note: Only respondents whose organizations have a written or unwritten policy addressing office pools were asked this question.

Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options.


Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Only respondents whose organizations have a written or

unwritten policy addressing office pools were asked this question. The asterisk (*) indicates the category was not included in the 2013 survey.

In the past 12 months, has your organization disciplined employees for

noncompliance with the office pools/gambling policy?

2%

4%

94%

7%

93%No

2013

2010(n = 70)

Yes, one or more employees have been disciplined

Yes, one or more employees have been terminated*

(n = 44)


Does your organization prohibit employees from taking part in

fantasy sports teams (e.g., fantasy football or fantasy baseball) in

the workplace?

Note: n = 294. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes, 15%

No, 85%


2013(n = 337)

2010(n = 150)

Super Bowl 39% 65%

NCAA college basketball tournament 36% 57%

Lottery jackpot 31% 31%

Fantasy football 19% *

Workplace baby pool (e.g., baby's gender, height, weight,

birth day and hour)18% 23%

NCAA college football championship 14% *

Fantasy basketball 6% *

Golf tournament (e.g., the Masters or U.S. Open) 3% 4%

The Motion Picture Academy of America Awards (also known as the Oscars)

2% 2%

Fantasy or roto-baseball 1% *

Other 5% 7%

For which of the following events do employees at your organization

organize an office pool?

Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages do not equal 100% due to multiple response options. An asterisk (*) indicates the category was not included in the 2010 survey.


Positive impact

Negative impact

No impact

Relationship building (n = 315) 70% 5% 25%

Team building (n = 319) 64% 5% 31%

Employee engagement (n = 317) 54% 9% 37%

Manager/employee relationships (n = 318) 40% 16% 45%

Job satisfaction (n = 319) 39% 5% 56%

Corporate culture management (n = 315) 33% 19% 48%

Supervisory relationships (n = 318) 23% 18% 59%

Employee recognition (n = 319) 12% 8% 80%

The Use of Office Pools ©SHRM 2013

Note: Percentages may not equal 100% due rounding.

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Generally speaking, would you say that office pools have a positive

impact, a negative impact or no impact on the following areas at

your organization?

IncreasesStays the

sameDecreases

Super Bowl (n = 282) 15% 78% 7%

NCAA college basketball tournament (n = 276) 6% 91% 3%

NCAA college football championship (n = 275) 5% 92% 3%

The Motion Picture Academy of America Awards

(also known as the Oscars) (n = 275)1% 97% 2%

Generally speaking, after the major televised events listed below, would

you say the number of employees who do not report for work the next

day increases, stays the same or decreases at your organization?


Note: Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Increases Stays the same Decreases

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Super Bowl (n = 282) 16% 7% 77% 91% 7% 2%

NCAA college basketball

tournament (n = 276)6% 2% 90% 97% 3% 1%

NCAA college football

championship (n = 275)6% 2% 92% 97% 2% 1%

The Motion Picture Academy of

America Awards (also known as the

Oscars) (n = 275)

1% 1% 97% 97% 2% 2%


Generally speaking, after the major televised events listed below, would

you say the number of employees, by gender, who do not report for work

the next day increases, stays the same or decreases at your organization?

Note: n = 269. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis. Percentages may not equal 100% due rounding.

Does your organization have formal/informal gatherings during these

events? For example, certain organizations host parties or social events

around watching a major sporting event.

Note: n = 309. Respondents who answered “not sure” were excluded from this analysis.

Yes, 13%

No, 87%


Demographics


Demographics: Organization Staff Size

1 to 99

100 to 499

500 to 2,499

2,500 to 24,999

25,000+

25%

37%

17%

18%

3%

n = 311


Demographics: Organization Sector

Privately owned for-profit

organization

Nonprofit organization

Publicly owned for-profit

organization

Government agency

52%

22%

15%

11%

n = 297


Demographics: Organization Industry

Organization Industry Percentage

Manufacturing 20%

Health care and social assistance 16%

Professional, scientific, technical services 14%

Finance and insurance 13%

Government agencies 10%

Educational services 9%

Administrative, support and waste management 4%

Repair and maintenance 4%

Transportation and warehousing 4%

Arts, entertainment, recreation 3%

Construction 3%

Note: n = 313. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple responses.


Demographics: Organization Industry (continued)

Organization Industry Percentage

Real estate 3%

Retail trade 3%

Utilities 3%

Wholesale trade 3%

Accommodation, food services 2%

Information 2%

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction 2%

Religious grantmaking 2%

Agriculture 1%

Personal services 0%

Other 9%

The Use of Office Pools ©SHRM 2013

Note: n = 313. Percentages do not total 100% due to multiple responses.

20

U.S.-based operations only 81%

Multinational operations 19%

Single-unit organization: An organization in

which the location and the organization

are one and the same

34%

Multi-unit organization: An organization

that has more than one location66%

Multi-unit headquarters determines HR

policies and practices52%

Each work location determines HR policies

and practices4%

A combination of both the work location

and the multi-unit headquarters

determines HR policies and practices

45%

Is your organization a single-unit organization or

a multi-unit organization?

For multi-unit organizations, are HR policies and

practices determined by the multi-unit

headquarters, by each work location or by both?

Does your organization have U.S.-based

operations (business units) only, or does it

operate multinationally?

n = 324

n = 317

Note: n = 213. Percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.

Corporate (companywide) 71%

Business unit/division 12%

Facility/location 17%

n = 215

What is the HR department/function for which

you responded throughout this survey?

Demographics: Other


22


• Response rate = 13%

• 355 HR professional respondents from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s

membership participated in this survey.

• Margin of error is +/-4%

• Survey fielded March 20-27, 2013

Survey Methodology


• For more survey/poll findings, visit www.shrm.org/surveys

• For more information about SHRM’s Customized Research Services, visit

www.shrm.org/customizedresearch

• Follow us on Twitter @SHRM_Research


About SHRM Research

Project leader:

Rob Boyd, researcher, SHRM Research

Project contributors:

Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SPHR, vice president, SHRM Research

Evren Esen, manager, Survey Research Center, SHRM Research

Copy Editor:

Katya Scanlan, SHRM Knowledge Center


http://www.shrm.org/surveys

http://www.shrm.org/customizedresearch

http://twitter.com/SHRM_Research

2013 office pool

Documents

term office pools

use of office pools

use of office poolsapril

female employees

unwritten policy

number of employees

majority of organizations

unwritten understood