Ever glimpse a colleague furtively checking out their fantasy football stats at work? Don’t scoff — unifying coworkers over fantasy football is actually good for morale, as Business Journals reports. In fact, one recent study by Quantum Workplace shows that employees who participated in fantasy football with their coworkers were more engaged while on the job by almost 12 percentage points compared to other employees who played fantasy football, but with friends outside the office.
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Plus, the survey, which addressed around 1,500 workers across the country, reveals another benefit: Co-workers playing in a fantasy league were found to enjoy greater teamwork and trust among their colleagues. (Of those surveyed, 16.6 percent participated in a fantasy football league, and of those, 51.8 percent were in a league with a coworker.)
Though there are only a few games left until the Super Bowl, companies might still take advantage of the survey’s results to bolster teamwork and co-worker camaraderie — perhaps, as Business Journals points out, during March Madness, the upcoming NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
“Companies serious about culture should identify and foster opportunities to bring employees together and insert fun into the workplace,” Jason Lauritsen, director of Best Places to Work at Quantum Workplace, explains. “As you can see, sometimes something as simple as an office fantasy football league is a way to bring together your people and build engagement.”
The survey also uncovered a number of other fascinating football findings:
- “NFL fans are more engaged than non-fans,” reports the survey. 75.3 percent of the NFL fans rated as “highly engaged” compared to 63.8 percent of non-fans.
- Those NFL fans who participated in the survey tended to have a more positive view of their employers, “in particular their leadership’s commitment to creating a great workplace.”
- Among workers who guessed a Super Bowl winner, 3.45 percent more were engaged at work compared to those who didn’t guess a winner.
- Only 14 percent of American adults have played in a fantasy football league, but the business behind the fantasy is real: revenue has tripled over the last 10 years to reach over $1.2 billion.
Certain teams were more likely to have higher levels of engagement among their fans: Cowboys, Panthers and Ravens fans were the most engaged, according to the study, while defending champions’ fans — fans of the Seattle Seahawks — had a “below average engagement” when compared to other survey takers.
“Companies serious about culture should identify and foster opportunities to bring employees together and insert fun into the workplace. As you can see, sometimes something as simple as an office fantasy football league is a way to bring together your people and build engagement,” Lauritsen explained.